KRS 210.270: Custodial care of patients with an intellectual disability in private homes,

private nursing homes, and private institutions -- Transfer or reclassification

of patient -- Procedure.

(1) The secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Ser vices is authorized to

designate those private homes, private nursing homes, and private institutions that

he or she deems, after a thorough investigation of the personal and financial

qualifications of the owners and tenants, the facilities and management , and the

desirability of the location of the homes, suitable for the placement of patients,

including individuals with mental illness or an intellectual disability of all ages,

outside of the state mental hospitals. The secretary of the Cabinet for Health and

Family Services may promulgate, by administrative regulation, standards for the

selection and operation of private homes, private nursing homes, and private

institutions designated for the placement of patients. No home of an officer or

employee of th e Cabinet for Health and Family Services or of a member of his or

her immediate family shall be designated for the placement of patients.

(2) Whenever the staff of a state mental hospital has determined that a patient who is

not being held on an order aris ing out of a criminal offense has sufficiently

improved and is not dangerous to himself, herself, or other persons, and that it

would be in the patient's best interest to be placed outside of the hospital in a

private home or private nursing home, the hosp ital shall so certify and authorize the

patient to be transferred to a designated private home or private nursing home for

care and custody for a length of time that the hospital deems advisable.

(3) No patient with an intellectual disability lodged in a s tate institution may have his

or her level of care reclassified nor may the patient be transferred to a private

nursing home or other private institution without first providing ten (10) days'

notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the pati ent's parents or guardian

that a reclassification of the patient's level of care or a transfer in the place of

residence is being considered.

(4) Any parent or guardian of any patient with an intellectual disability lodged in a state

institution may partic ipate in any evaluation procedure which may result in a

reclassification of the patient's level of care or in a transfer in the place of residence

of the patient. Participation may include the submission by the parents or guardian

of medical evidence or an y other evidence deemed relevant by the parents or

guardian to the possible reclassification or transfer of the patient.

(5) If the decision to reclassify or transfer any patient with an intellectual disability is

adverse to the best interests of the patie nt as expressed by the parents or guardian,

they shall be given notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, that they are

entitled to a thirty (30) day period from the receipt of such notice to file with the

secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services a notice of appeal and

application for a hearing. Upon receipt of an application for a hearing, a hearing

shall be conducted in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B.

(6) The appeal shall be heard by a three (3) member panel composed of a designa ted

representative of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, a designated

representative of the state institution where the patient with an intellectual disability

is presently lodged, and a designated neutral representative appointed by the county

judge/executive of the county in which the institution in question is located. The

Office of Administrative Hearings within the Department of Law may appoint a

hearing officer to preside over the conduct of the hearing.

(7) Decisions made by the panel may be appealed to the Circuit Court of the county in

which the state institution in question is located, to the Circuit Court of the county

in which either of the parents or guardians or committee of the patient in question is

domiciled at the time of the decis ion, or to Franklin Circuit Court in accordance

with KRS Chapter 13B.

(8) All parents or guardians or committee of a patient with an intellectual disability

lodged in a state institution shall be fully apprised by the Cabinet for Health and

Family Services of their rights and duties under the provisions of subsections (3),

(4), (5), (6), and (7) of this section.

(9) The provisions of KRS 210.700 to 210.760 shall apply to patients transferred to

designated private homes and private nursing homes as though th e patients were

residing in a state mental hospital.