Continuing care contracts.

Existing law regulates continuing care contracts and imposes certain reporting and reserve requirements on continuing care communities. Existing law establishes the Continuing Care Provider Fee Fund, which consists of specified fees from continuing care providers and which is continuously appropriated to the State Department of Social Services to oversee the continuing care provider program. Existing law requires the department to adjust the fees to reduce the amounts collected when the balance of the fund is projected to exceed $500,000 for the next budget year. This bill would rename the fund as the CCRC Oversight Fund. The bill would also remove the requirement that the department reduce the amounts collected when the fund is projected to reach $500,000 and would, instead, require the department to, as needed, adjust the fees on continuing care providers to ensure that the balance in the fund is adequate to fund the reasonable regulatory costs of the program and does not exceed an amount adequate to fund those costs. By authorizing additional amounts to be deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require a link to the approved budget for the Continuing Care Contracts Section to be posted on the department's internet website. Existing law authorizes the department to require a continuous care provider to submit a financial plan in specified circumstances, including when the department has reason to believe that the provider is insolvent, is in imminent danger of becoming insolvent, is in a financially unsound or unsafe condition, or that its condition is such that it may otherwise be unable to fully perform its obligations pursuant to continuing care contracts. Existing law requires the plan to explain how and when the provider will rectify the problems and deficiencies identified by the department. This bill would authorize the department to require a provider to submit a financial plan and periodic financial reports in the above circumstances, and if the department receives notice with specified information from a provider within 2 weeks after the end of a calendar month. The bill would require the financial plan and the periodic financial reports to be distributed as specified, including to the facility's resident council or association within 10 calendar days of submission to the department. The bill would permit a provider to submit a separate version of the financial plan with trade secret information redacted and would require the department to approve or disapprove of the plan and the redacted version of the plan. The bill would require the approved financial plan, the approved redacted form of the plan, any revisions, and any subsequent periodic report to be shared with a prospective or incoming resident no less than 60 calendar days before entering into a continuing care contract until the time the provider has corrected the problems and deficiencies, except when a prospective or incoming resident has an urgent need for placement and the resident completes a declaration, as specified. Existing law defines a repayable contract as a continuing care contract that includes a promise to repay all or a portion of an entrance fee that is conditioned upon reoccupancy or resale of the unit previously occupied by the resident. This bill would prohibit a provider from keeping a unit off market to avoid repaying all or a portion of the entrance fee of a repayable contract.