Assisted Living Contract and AL Bill of Rights Changes Effective this Week

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Bobbie Guidry

As reported in last week’s Advantage, the Assisted Living Facility HFID must be on new assisted living contracts entered into on or after Aug. 1, 2022. Also, effective for contracts entered into on or after Aug. 1, 2022, the following changes were made to the required assisted living contract content in item (5) in 144G.50, subdivision 2, the (struck-out language deleted, new language in bold):

• (5) a delineation of the grounds under which the resident may be discharged, evicted, or transferred or have housing or services terminated or be subject to an emergency relocation;

The contract template available through LeadingAge Minnesota addresses all of these elements.

Relatedly, a FAQ is under development at MDH to clarify what MDH is interpreting as acceptable language and content on several interpretations of the statute that have been controversial, including encouraging residents to consider obtaining renter's insurance and waivers of liability related to acts of third parties. The FAQ will assist providers in reviewing their contracts for statutory compliance.

Changes were also made to the Assisted Living Bill of Rights in the 2022 legislative session. The new version of the Assisted Living Bill of Rights must be distributed to all residents, and a written acknowledgment of receipt of the latest version must be obtained and kept in the resident record. MDH has provided a one-month grace period to obtain the written acknowledgment of receipt. You must document the reason in the resident record if you cannot get a written acknowledgment.