Connecticut nursing homes report ownership and protect residents' care authority

Nursing homes must report information about certain investment owners to the state. This applies to nursing homes with a state agreement to serve Medicaid recipients. They must report owners with at least a 5% beneficial ownership share, along with specified ownership, financial, financing, purchase, and escrow records. The first report is due February 15, 2027, and reports are due annually after that.

The state must identify available financial security, and certain nursing homes must obtain it. The security requirement covers nursing homes with an investment entity holding at least a 5% beneficial ownership share. The security must guarantee 90 days of operating costs payable to the state if the home enters receivership, begins an emergency closure, or faces imminent financial distress. The state requirement does not apply if the commissioner finds no security instrument or determines that none is financially feasible. The commissioner must tell nursing homes about identified options by January 1, 2028. The security requirement applies at license applications and renewals on or after July 1, 2028.

The license holder must keep full control over the nursing home's assets and activities, and the home must report that investment entities do not control resident care. The control requirement applies to each entity holding a nursing home's license. Each nursing home must submit the annual care-control attestation to the Department of Public Health. The commissioner may grant a one-year waiver from the control requirement only if the waiver would benefit resident care, maintain access to care, or improve operational stability. The control requirement begins February 1, 2028. The first attestation is due by February 1, 2028, with annual attestations after that.

The Social Services commissioner must review nursing home ownership disclosures, care quality, and a possible property-sale restriction, then report findings to lawmakers. The commissioner must compare care at homes with investment-entity ownership to care under other ownership structures and consider a possible five-year limit on transfers of property used by a licensed nursing home without written approval. The possible restriction is an issue for the review; this provision does not itself prohibit a property sale. The commissioner must report the review's results to legislative committees by February 15, 2028.