South Dakota

Grounds stated in the sources

ARSD 44:73:11:14(1): "The resident may remain in the facility and may not be transferred or discharged unless the resident's needs and welfare cannot be met by the facility, the resident's health has improved sufficiently so the resident no longer needs the services provided by the facility, the safety or health of individuals in the facility is endangered by the resident, the resident has failed to pay for allowable billed services as agreed to, or the facility ceases to operate".

Notice stated in the sources

ARSD 44:73:11:14(2): "The facility must notify the resident or the resident's legal representative and state ombudsman in writing at least thirty days before the transfer or discharge unless a change in the resident's health requires immediate transfer or discharge or the resident has not resided in the facility for thirty days. The written notice must specify the reason for, and effective date of, the transfer or discharge and the location to which the resident will be transferred or discharged".

Hearing office in these sources

ARSD 44:73:11:14(4) requires only that a facility's transfer-or-discharge policy include "A description of how the resident may appeal a decision by the facility to transfer or discharge the resident." — it does not itself name an office, a form, or a deadline for that appeal. Separately, the Department of Social Services' own fair-hearing rule states that "a Department of Social Services action or inaction regarding the supplemental nutrition assistance program or medical assistance program" may be appealed by a "written or oral request for an appeal to the department's Office of Administrative Hearings" (ARSD 67:17:02:03). The department's own Fair Hearings page gives that office's address as "Department of Social Services" "Office of Administrative Hearings" "700 Governors Drive" "Pierre, SD 57501", phone 605.773.6851, admhrngs@state.sd.us, and states "The deadline to request a fair hearing is stated on the Department's notice of the adverse action." No first-party document located ties a nursing facility's own decision to transfer or discharge a resident to this hearing route by name; that connection is not stated in the sources reviewed and is not asserted here.

Ombudsman in these sources

The South Dakota Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, run by the Department of Human Services, states of itself: "The South Dakota Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program provides information and referral assistance, education to increase community awareness of resident's rights, and training for long-term care facility staff." Its own published contact: "Division of Long Term Services and Supports" "Hillsview Plaza, 3800 E Hwy 34" "c/o 500 E. Capitol Avenue" "Pierre, SD 57501", "By phone: 833-663-9673", "By email: DakotaAtHome@state.sd.us", and "You can also email the State Ombudsman at LTCO@state.sd.us." The department's own Dakota at Home directory listing instead gives the program's address as "3800 E. Highway 34, Pierre, SD 57501" — both addresses shown as published, not reconciled.

Sources last checked

Sep 2, 2026

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 South Dakota'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 ARSD 44:73:11:14, Admission, transfer, and discharge policies — part of the nursing-facility residents'-rights chapter administered under the state's own Administrative Rules, last amended by 51 SDR 53, effective November 11, 2024 — which states the permissible grounds, the thirty-day notice and its exceptions, and requires a facility's own policy to describe how a resident may appeal, all under South Dakota's own vocabulary of transfer and discharge. What that section does not itself state — a named hearing office, a filing address, a deadline — sits with a different department: the Department of Social Services publishes its own Office of Administrative Hearings and fair-hearing rule (ARSD chapter 67:17:02) for appeals of the department's own actions, and a third department, the Department of Human Services, publishes the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program's contact. Three publishers before this state's own rule is even fully read. The federal floor for Medicare/Medicaid-certified facilities is assembled separately on the federal page; 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.