(a) Duration of enrollment. Enrollment continues until the participant's death, regardless of changes in health status, unless either of the following actions occur:

(1) The participant voluntarily disenrolls.

(2) The participant is involuntarily disenrolled, as described in §460.164.

(b) Annual recertification requirement. At least annually, the State administering agency must reevaluate whether a participant needs the level of care required under the State Medicaid plan for coverage of nursing facility services.

(1) Waiver of annual requirement.

(i) The State administering agency may permanently waive the annual recertification requirement for a participant if it determines that there is no reasonable expectation of improvement or significant change in the participant's condition because of the severity of a chronic condition or the degree of impairment of functional capacity.

(ii) The PACE organization must retain in the participant's medical record the documentation of the reason for waiving the annual recertification requirement.

(2) Deemed continued eligibility. If the State administering agency determines that a PACE participant no longer meets the State Medicaid nursing facility level of care requirements, the participant may be deemed to continue to be eligible for the PACE program until the next annual reevaluation, if, in the absence of continued coverage under this program, the participant reasonably would be expected to meet the nursing facility level of care requirement within the next 6 months.

(3) Continued eligibility criteria.

(i) The State administering agency, must establish criteria to use in making the determination of “deemed continued eligibility.” The State administering agency, in consultation with the PACE organization, makes a determination of deemed continued eligibility based on a review of the participant's medical record and plan of care. These criteria must be applied in reviewing the participant's medical record and plan of care.

(ii) The criteria used to make the determination of continued eligibility must be specified in the program agreement.

[64 FR 66279, Nov. 24, 1999, as amended at 71 FR 71337, Dec. 8, 2006]