New Hampshire

Grounds stated in the sources

New Hampshire's Patients' Bill of Rights states that "A facility subject to RSA 151:21 shall not transfer or discharge a patient except for those reasons listed under RSA 151:21, V." Those reasons: the patient "shall be transferred or discharged after appropriate discharge planning only for medical reasons, for the patient's welfare or that of other patients, if the facility ceases to operate, or for nonpayment for the patient's stay, except as prohibited by Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act." The same paragraph adds that "No patient shall be involuntarily discharged from a facility because the patient becomes eligible for medicaid as a source of payment."

Notice stated in the sources

Transfer or discharge "shall in all instances be preceded by written notice which shall contain the following:" "The reason for the proposed transfer or discharge;" "The effective date of the proposed transfer or discharge;" "The location to which the patient is transferred or discharged;" the "name, address and telephone number of the long-term care ombudsman, established under RSA 161-F:10, and the name, address, and telephone number of the federally-designated protection and advocacy agency for individuals with disabilities;" and a statement that must read "You have a right to appeal the facility's decision to transfer or discharge you. If you think you should not have to leave this facility, you may file an appeal in superior or probate court." For a resident of a skilled nursing or nursing facility certified under Title XVIII or XIX, that statement must also carry the "right to request an administrative hearing before the department of health and human services." "Except as specified in paragraph II(b) of this section, written notice of transfer or discharge shall be given at least 30 days before the resident is transferred or discharged." Notice may instead be given "as soon as practicable" in four stated circumstances: an emergency transfer "mandated by the patient's health care needs"; a transfer mandated by "the health or safety of other individuals in the facility"; where "the patient no longer needs the services provided by the facility"; or where "the patient has resided in the facility for less than 30 days."

Hearing office in these sources

New Hampshire's own notice-content statute states two separate routes. Every notice must carry a statement reading in part "you may file an appeal in superior or probate court." RSA 151:26 IV separately states that "Upon notice, a patient may petition the superior or probate court to enjoin the facility's decision to transfer or discharge. This petition shall stay any transfer or discharge pending a decision." For a certified nursing facility resident, the same notice statement must also carry the "right to request an administrative hearing before the department of health and human services" — the statute does not itself name the office, a form, or a deadline for that hearing, and no captured source states whether requesting it stays the transfer or discharge the way the court petition does. DHHS's own Administrative Appeals Unit states that "Any individual or organization dissatisfied with any matter within the jurisdiction of DHHS may request an administrative appeal hearing." It also states that generally "you must file an appeal within 30 days from the date on the Notice of Decision". No captured source names the Administrative Appeals Unit, or any other office, as the body that hears a RSA 151:26 discharge appeal specifically.

Ombudsman in these sources

New Hampshire's Long-Term Care Ombudsman "receives, services, investigates and resolves complaints or problems concerning residents of long-term health care facilities." Its stated mission: "The Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman shall represent the interests and concerns of elders residing in New Hampshire's long term care facilities and advocate on their behalf to ensure full realization of their rights to receive quality care and services and to experience an optimal quality of life." Its published contact: "Brown Building, 129 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301"; "OLTCO@dhhs.nh.gov"; phone "(603) 271-4375" (also published elsewhere on the department's site as "603-271-4375"); alternate phone "(800) 442-5640" (also published as "1-800-442-5640"); fax "(603) 271-5574" (also published as "603-271-5574").

Sources last checked

2026-09-01

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 New Hampshire'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. New Hampshire's fullest single source is its own transfer-and-discharge statute, RSA 151:26 (Transfer or Discharge of Patients), amended most recently by 2013, 265:9, eff. Jan. 1, 2014 per its own source note; it sits inside Chapter 151, Residential Care and Health Facility Licensing, alongside RSA 151:21 (the grounds, stated as a patient right) and RSA 151:25 (bed-hold during a temporary absence). New Hampshire's own vocabulary is transfer or discharge, used throughout its statute.

RSA 151:26 is unusually explicit for a licensure statute: it states the notice's five required contents in full, states a 30-day period with four named exceptions, quotes the appeal-rights sentence the notice itself must carry word for word, and separately gives a patient the right to petition superior or probate court to enjoin a transfer or discharge, with that petition itself staying the move. It also names one appeal route DHHS provides — "an administrative hearing before the department of health and human services" — without naming the office, form, or deadline for it. New Hampshire's Medicaid provider manual confirms and cross-references the same bed-hold rule stated in RSA 151:25, and separately states a Medicaid-specific 30-reserved-bed-day annual cap for therapeutic leave, and a distinct 14-day facility-to-state notice for a resident's transition to a community setting — a different notice, to a different recipient, than the resident notice RSA 151:26 requires. 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.