California

Grounds stated in the sources

No enumeration of permissible bases appears in any captured California source. CDPH's All Facilities Letter AFL 25-17 (May 28, 2025) requires the notice to state "The specific reason for the transfer or discharge, including the basis under Title 42 CFR section 483.15(c)(1)(i)(A)-(F)." — pointing to the federal enumeration rather than restating one. The state regulation the letter cites as authority, 22 CCR 72527, is capture-pending; the federal enumeration is quoted on [the federal page](../federal.html) and is not restated here. Not stated in the sources reviewed.

Notice stated in the sources

AFL 25-17: "Notice must be provided at least 30 days prior to the transfer or discharge of the resident." Four exceptions to the 30-day requirement are stated, in which case "the notice must be provided to the resident, resident’s representative(s) if appropriate, and LTC ombudsman as soon as practicable before the transfer or discharge." The letter lists eight items the notice "must include all of the following at the time notice is provided", among them "An explanation of the right to appeal the transfer or discharge to the State (Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), Office of Administrative Hearings and Appeals (OAHA))."

Hearing office in these sources

The Department of Health Care Services, Office of Administrative Hearings and Appeals — its "Transfer Discharge and Refusal to Readmit Unit". As OAHA publishes the route: "To request a hearing, residents or their authorized representative can contact OAHA via telephone at (916) 445-9775, fax at (916) 440-5105, or email at OAHAefax@dhcs.ca.gov, or by using the OAHA E-Filing Portal". No filing deadline and no street address for filing are stated in the sources reviewed; OAHA states that "Residents desiring a hearing should submit a request as soon as possible in order for a decision in the matter to be rendered before the proposed date of discharge."

Ombudsman in these sources

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, administered by the California Department of Aging. As published on the program's own consumer page: facilities are required to post "the phone number for the local Ombudsman office and the Statewide Ombudsman Hotline number 1-800-231-4024. The Ombudsman Hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to take calls and refer complaints from residents in long-term care facilities." The page states local offices are found "by selecting your county on the Find Services in My County page of this website."

Sources last checked

2026-08-30

Reproduced from the agencies' own pages and documents quoted below — potentially relevant official sources, not a determination that any notice, ground, or deadline applies to any situation.

Lede

This page assembles what California's own publishers state about involuntary transfer and discharge from a certified nursing facility. It is a baseline page: the docket rows and the source map are built; the grounds section and the published-process section are not yet written, and the state's own regulations remain capture-pending, as the change log records. The fullest single source captured is CDPH's All Facilities Letter AFL 25-17, "SNF Discharge Notice Requirements" (May 28, 2025), read with the Department of Health Care Services' page for the Office of Administrative Hearings and Appeals and with Health and Safety Code section 1599.1. California's vocabulary is transfer or discharge, and it carries a second term this project's other states do not put in the same place: a refusal to readmit after a hospital stay, which section 1599.1(h)(2) states "shall be treated as if it were an involuntary transfer under federal law". Four publishers hold the pieces — the Department of Public Health licenses the facilities and issues the letters, the Department of Health Care Services hears the appeals, the Department of Aging houses the ombudsman program, and the patients' bill of rights sits in statute.

The federal floor for Medicare/Medicaid-certified facilities is assembled separately on [the federal page](../federal.html); nothing here fills a gap from federal law or another state. Confirm applicability with the agencies named in the sources: whether any provision applies to a particular facility, resident, or notice is for the hearing office to determine. Deadlines and periods on this page are quoted from the sources, not calculated for any case.