Massachusetts

Grounds stated in the sources

130 CMR 456.701(A): "A resident may be transferred or discharged from a nursing facility only when" — "the transfer or discharge is necessary for the resident's welfare and the resident's needs cannot be met in the nursing facility;"; "the transfer or discharge is appropriate because the resident's health has improved sufficiently so that the resident no longer needs the services provided by the nursing facility;"; "the safety of individuals in the nursing facility is endangered;"; "the health of individuals in the nursing facility would otherwise be endangered;"; "the resident has failed, after reasonable and appropriate notice, to pay for (or failed to have MassHealth or Medicare pay for) a stay at the nursing facility; or"; "the nursing facility ceases to operate." The regulation also names a sixth situation that counts as a move: "A nursing facility’s failure to readmit a resident following a medical leave of absence will be deemed a transfer or discharge (depending on the resident’s circumstances)."

Notice stated in the sources

130 CMR 456.702(A): "The notice of discharge or transfer required under 130 CMR 456.701(C) must be made by the nursing facility at least 30 days prior to the date the resident is to be discharged or transferred", except in four stated circumstances where it "must be made as soon as practicable". On delivery and contents, 456.701(C): "Before a nursing facility discharges or transfers any resident, the nursing facility must hand" "deliver to the resident and mail to the authorized or legal representative a notice written in 12-" "point or larger type that contains, in a language the member understands, the following:" — ten items, among them "a statement informing the resident of their right to request a hearing before MassHealth’s Board of Hearings, including" "the address to send a request for a hearing;", the local ombudsman's contact, a statement that free legal assistance may be available with the address of the nearest legal services office, and "the name of a person at the nursing facility who can answer any questions the resident has about the notice and who will be available to assist the resident in filing an appeal."

Hearing office in these sources

MassHealth's Board of Hearings: "Appeals of discharges and transfers will be handled by MassHealth’s Board of Hearings" "(BOH) pursuant to 130 CMR 610.000: MassHealth: Fair Hearing Rules." The deadlines run from the kind of notice: "30 days after a resident receives written notice of a discharge or transfer pursuant to 130 CMR 456.702(A);" or "14 days after a resident receives written notice of an emergency discharge or emergency transfer pursuant to 130 CMR 456.702(B); or" fourteen days where the move follows a failure to readmit. On pendency: where the request arrives during the notice period, "the nursing facility must stay the planned discharge or transfer until 30 days after the decision is rendered." MassHealth publishes the Board's routes on its appeals page — by mail or in person at "Office of Medicaid, Board of Hearings" "1 Enterprise Drive, 3rd Floor" "Quincy, MA 02171", by fax to "1-617-887-8797", by email to boh-fairhearingsrequest@mass.gov — while the same page's contact block gives a different mailing address, "100 Hancock Street, 6th Floor, Quincy, MA 02171". Both are shown as published.

Ombudsman in these sources

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman, in the Executive Office of Aging & Independence. The Commonwealth publishes "Long-Term Care Ombudsman and Assisted Living Ombudsman: 617-222-7495" and a general program line, "Contact an Ombudsman Program: (617) 727-7750/711 MassRelay/TTY", with the office at "One Ashburton Place, 10th floor, Boston, MA 02108" and MassOptions at "800-243-4636". The regulation requires the facility's own notice to carry "the name, address, and telephone number of the local long-term-care ombudsman office;".

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 Massachusetts's own publishers state about 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 130 CMR 456.701 through 456.705, the transfer and discharge provisions of the Nursing Facility Manual, which state the grounds, the thirty-day notice and its exceptions, the notice's ten required contents, the appeal deadlines, the stay pending appeal and the scheduling of the hearing. Massachusetts's vocabulary is transfer or discharge; the appeal is a fair hearing before MassHealth's Board of Hearings.

Two features are worth naming for a reader. Massachusetts runs two appeal clocks — thirty days for an ordinary notice, fourteen for an emergency move or a refusal to readmit — and it requires the facility's own notice to name a person at the facility "who will be available to assist the resident in filing an appeal." 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.