Pennsylvania

Grounds stated in the sources

No Pennsylvania regulation enumerating the permissible bases was captured. What the Commonwealth's own materials state sits in the Department of Human Services' Long-Term Care Handbook, section 423.61, which states that a facility "may discharge an individual for nonpayment of his payment towards the cost of LTC Facility Services when" the facility "has provided reasonable and appropriate notice." and "has demonstrated that it made reasonable efforts to collect the debt.", and lists alongside it that "The individual’s health improved to the point where LTC facility services are no longer needed." and "The individual’s health has deteriorated requiring care which the facility is unable to provide." The handbook cites 42 CFR § 483.12 and 028 Pa. Code § 201.29(f) for the passage; the federal enumeration is quoted on [the federal page](../federal.html) and is not restated here.

Notice stated in the sources

The same handbook section: "When an LTC facility discharges an individual or transfers the individual to another facility, the former facility must give the individual 30 days advance written notice, and, if known, a copy of the notice to the individual’s representative." The stated exception follows: "The notice is not required for an emergency or an urgent need for medical services which the facility cannot provide." The Department of Health's protocol for facilities directs the facility, for a facility-initiated non-emergency discharge, to "Issue a written 30-day notice of discharge to the resident and e-mail notice to LTC-ombudsman@pa.gov the same day it’s issued to the resident."

Hearing office in these sources

The Bureau of Hearings and Appeals: the handbook states "The individual or the individual’s representative has the right to appeal a discharge or transfer." and that "The appeal must be received by the CAO within 30 days of the date of the facility's notice to the individual of discharge. The appeal must be filed with the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals." No form is required — "There is no specific form that an individual or the individual’s representative must complete to file an appeal." — and four items the request must contain are listed. The county assistance office sends a copy to the "Office of Long-Term Living Bureau of Provider Support P. O. Box 8025 Harrisburg, PA 17105 (717) 772-2570", and "A copy of the appeal request must also be sent to the LTC facility." No street address or filing portal for the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals itself is stated in the sources reviewed.

Ombudsman in these sources

The Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, in the Department of Aging. As published on the Commonwealth's own service page, contact is "By Phone" — "Call the PA Long-term Care Office to connect with your local Ombudsman." at 717-783-8975 — and "By Email" at LTC-Ombudsman@pa.gov. The Department of Health's facility protocol routes discharge notices to the same address: the facility is to "e-mail notice to LTC-ombudsman@pa.gov the same day it’s issued to the resident. The State Office will distribute the notice to the appropriate local 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 Pennsylvania'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, and the Commonwealth publishes no captured enumeration of grounds of its own, as the change log records. The fullest single source is the Department of Human Services' Long-Term Care Handbook at 423.6, "Changes in Residence/Discharge/Transfers" (Updated June 11, 2025, Replacing August 22, 2019) — a Medical Assistance eligibility manual rather than a residents' guide, which is where the notice period, the appeal route and the bed-hold period are actually published. Pennsylvania's vocabulary is discharge and transfer; the appeal is filed with the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals through the county assistance office, abbreviated CAO throughout the handbook. Three publishers hold the pieces: the Department of Human Services runs the appeal and the Medical Assistance rules, the Department of Health regulates the facilities and sets the notice-routing protocol, and the Department of Aging houses the ombudsman program.

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.