(a) Requirement. The State PASARR program must require—(1) Preadmission screening of all individuals with mental illness or intellectual disability who apply as new admissions to Medicaid NFs on or after January 1, 1989;

(2) Initial review, by April 1, 1990, of all current residents with intellectual disability or mental illness who entered Medicaid NFs prior to January 1, 1989; and

(3) At least annual review, as of April 1, 1990, of all residents with mental illness or intellectual disability, regardless of whether they were first screened under the preadmission screening or annual resident review requirements.

(b) Admissions, readmissions and interfacility transfers—(1) New admission. An individual is a new admission if he or she is admitted to any NF for the first time or does not qualify as a readmission. With the exception of certain hospital discharges described in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, new admissions are subject to preadmission screening.

(2) Exempted hospital discharge.

(i) An exempted hospital discharge means an individual—

(A) Who is admitted to any NF directly from a hospital after receiving acute inpatient care at the hospital;

(B) Who requires NF services for the condition for which he or she received care in the hospital; and

(C) Whose attending physician has certified before admission to the facility that the individual is likely to require less than 30 days nursing facility services.

(ii) If an individual who enters a NF as an exempted hospital discharge is later found to require more than 30 days of NF care, the State mental health or intellectual disability authority must conduct an annual resident review within 40 calendar days of admission.

(3) Readmissions. An individual is a readmission if he or she was readmitted to a facility from a hospital to which he or she was transferred for the purpose of receiving care. Readmissions are subject to annual resident review rather than preadmission screening.

(4) Interfacility transfers—(i) An interfacility transfer occurs when an individual is transferred from one NF to another NF, with or without an intervening hospital stay. Interfacility transfers are subject to annual resident review rather than preadmission screening.

(ii) In cases of transfer of a resident with MI or IID from a NF to a hospital or to another NF, the transferring NF is responsible for ensuring that copies of the resident's most recent PASARR and resident assessment reports accompany the transferring resident.

(c) Purpose. The preadmission screening and annual resident review process must result in determinations based on a physical and mental evaluation of each individual with mental illness or intellectual disability, that are described in §§483.112 and 483.114.

(d) Responsibility for evaluations and determinations. The PASARR determinations of whether an individual requires the level of services provided by a NF and whether specialized services are needed—

(1) For individuals with mental illness, must be made by the State mental health authority and be based on an independent physical and mental evaluation performed by a person or entity other than the State mental health authority; and

(2) For individuals with intellectual disability, must be made by the State intellectual disability or developmental disabilities authority.

(e) Delegation of responsibility—(1) The State mental health and intellectual disability authorities may delegate by subcontract or otherwise the evaluation and determination functions for which they are responsible to another entity only if—

(i) The State mental health and intellectual disability authorities retain ultimate control and responsibility for the performance of their statutory obligations;

(ii) The two determinations as to the need for NF services and for specialized services are made, based on a consistent analysis of the data; and

(iii) The entity to which the delegation is made is not a NF or an entity that has a direct or indirect affiliation or relationship with a NF.

(2) The State intellectual disability authority has responsibility for both the evaluation and determination functions for individuals with IID whereas the State mental health authority has responsibility only for the determination function.

(3) The evaluation of individuals with MI cannot be delegated by the State mental health authority because it does not have responsibility for this function. The evaluation function must be performed by a person or entity other than the State mental health authority. In designating an independent person or entity to perform MI evaluations, the State must not use a NF or an entity that has a direct or indirect affiliation or relationship with a NF.

[57 FR 56506, Nov. 30, 1992; 58 FR 25784, Apr. 28, 1993]