AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
2006 BH "Dear Provider" Letters
February 20, 2006
ADSA: BH #2006-002
Transfer/Discharge
Dear Boarding Home Provider:
This letter replaces ADSA: BH #2006-002, dated February 3, 2006.
In the past few months, concerns about the transfer and discharge of residents have been raised. The purpose of this letter is to remind you of some of the boarding home’s responsibilities related to transfer/discharge. State requirements related to transfer and discharge can be found in RCW 70.129.110, RCW 18.20.300, WAC 388-78A-2710 and WAC 388-78A-2660. It is your responsibility to be familiar with these requirements.
Some of the issues that have been brought to my attention are concerns about:
- Boarding homes’ failure to explain what they mean when they discharge a resident because the facility is “unable to meet the resident’s needs;”
- The steps the boarding home has or has not taken to reasonably accommodate the resident, before deciding that they cannot meet the resident’s needs, and
- Whether the boarding homes’ transfer or discharge notice includes the location to which the resident will be discharged or transferred.
Remember that you are only allowed to admit and keep those residents whose needs you can meet with available resources (RCW 70.129.030). If you discharge a resident because the boarding home is “unable to meet the resident’s needs”, you must be able to show specifically why the boarding home cannot meet those needs.
Before you discharge a resident, you must try to reasonably accommodate the resident’s needs. Reasonable accommodation will be different for each resident and will be dependent upon the facts of the case.
As you know, you must notify residents when you initiate a transfer or discharge. Under normal circumstances the boarding home that initiates the transfer/discharge of a resident must provide a minimum of thirty days notice of the transfer/discharge (RCW 70.129.110). However, if you voluntarily decrease the scope of services, and the decrease will result in the discharge of one or more residents, you must provide ninety day’s written notice of the decrease in services (RCW 18.20.300)
You may use any transfer or discharge notice form that includes all of the required elements in RCW 70.129.110 (5) including the location to which the resident will be discharged or transferred.
If you have any questions on the discharge and transfer requirements, please feel free to contact your local RCS Field Manager.
Sincerely,
Joyce Pashley Stockwell, Director
Residential Care Services
