Maryland

Grounds stated in the sources

Health-General § 19-345(a): "A resident of a facility may not be transferred or discharged from the facility involuntarily except for the following reasons:" — the resident's welfare and needs that cannot be met in the facility; improvement such that the resident "no longer needs the services provided by the facility"; "The health or safety of an individual in a facility is endangered;"; failure "after reasonable and appropriate notice, to pay for, or under Medicare or Medicaid or otherwise, to have paid for a stay at the facility; or"; or "The facility ceases to operate." The regulation states the same five with one addition: that the facility ceases to operate "or, in the case of a resident who receives Medicare or Medicaid services, when the nursing facility has been decertified or has withdrawn from the Medicare or Medicaid Program." The statute also bars a Medicaid-certified facility from discharging "a resident involuntarily because the resident is a Medicaid benefits recipient."

Notice stated in the sources

COMAR 10.07.09.10C(1): except in emergencies or where the resident has not resided in the facility for thirty days, "the nursing facility shall notify the resident, representative, or interested family member, the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and the Department at least:" — "30 days before any proposed transfer or discharge if the nursing facility is not part of a continuing care retirement community as defined in Article 70B, Annotated Code of Maryland; or" "60 days before any proposed transfer or discharge if the nursing facility is part of a continuing care retirement community." The notice "shall be on a form developed by the Department and shall include:" nine items, among them each reason, how to request a hearing, the ombudsman contacts, "The right of a resident to consult with any lawyer the resident chooses;" and the Legal Aid Bureau and senior legal assistance contacts.

Hearing office in these sources

The Office of Administrative Hearings. COMAR 10.07.09.13: "A resident may request a hearing within 30 days of receiving a notice of an intended involuntary transfer or discharge as provided in Regulation .10C of this chapter." — and, on route, "The resident shall send a written request for a hearing to the Office of Administrative Hearings by the 30th calendar day after the resident receives the nursing facility's notice of the proposed transfer or discharge." No address, form or telephone number for that office is stated in the captured sources. On pendency: except in an emergency or where the resident has resided in the facility less than thirty days, after a request is filed the facility "may not discharge or transfer the resident until" a final decision issues and the discharge requirements are met, or the resident consents and withdraws. Maryland states who the parties are: "The Department is not a party to a hearing conducted pursuant to this regulation. The parties are the nursing facility and the resident."

Ombudsman in these sources

The Maryland Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, in the Maryland Department of Aging: "The Maryland Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program advocates for the health, safety, well-being, and rights of residents in assisted living and nursing homes." No statewide telephone number for the program is published on the page reviewed. The regulation requires the facility's notice to carry "The name, address, and telephone number of the State's Office on Aging and local office on aging long-term care ombudsman;".

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 Maryland's own publishers state about involuntary transfer and discharge from a 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, as the change log records. The fullest single source is COMAR 10.07.09, the residents' bill of rights for comprehensive care and extended care facilities, whose Regulations .10 through .13 state the grounds, the notice and its contents, the discharge conditions, bed hold, and the hearing — read with Health-General § 19-345, which states the grounds in statute. Maryland's vocabulary is involuntary discharge or transfer; the appeal goes to the Office of Administrative Hearings, an independent adjudicator outside the health department, and the state says plainly that it is not itself a party.

Two features are worth naming up front. Maryland sets a longer notice period — sixty days — for facilities that are part of a continuing care retirement community, and it requires a comprehensive medical assessment, a post-discharge plan of care and a physician's written statement within forty-eight hours before any involuntary move. 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.