Tennessee

Grounds stated in the sources

TennCare's prescribed notice states six, in the second person and in plain words: "You did not pay your bill from the nursing home. The nursing home told you this. And the nursing home gave you time to pay."; "The nursing home is closing."; "The nursing home says it cannot care for you. Your needs are too high."; "You got better. And you do not need care in a nursing home now."; "You make the nursing home unsafe for other people."; and "You may endanger the health of other people in the nursing home." Four of the six carry an asterisk, and the asterisked footnote states a condition: "A doctor must agree if the nursing home checks this box. The doctor must also sign the third page. Or the nursing home must attach the doctor’s written order."

Notice stated in the sources

The notice states its own period: "A nursing home can move a resident 30 days after it gives this Notice to the resident, unless an appeal is pending. The nursing home can move a resident before then if an exception applies. But the nursing home must document the exception." The health department's rule adds a step before any of it: "No involuntary transfer or discharge shall be made until the nursing home has first informed the department and the area long-term care ombudsman." — and, absent a disaster or a physician's emergency order, "no involuntary transfer or discharge shall be made until five (5) business days after these agencies have been notified, unless they each earlier declare that they have no intention of intervening." The rule also lists factors to be taken into account where an involuntary transfer is proposed, beginning with "The traumatic effect on the resident."

Hearing office in these sources

TennCare's Commissioner's Designee. The notice states: "If you want to appeal, call 1-833-582-1224. Or fax your appeal to 615-734-5317. Or email cd.appeals.tenncare@tn.gov. Or write to TennCare’s Office of General Counsel, ATTN: Involuntary NF Discharge Appeals, 310 Great Circle Road, Nashville, TN 37243." On timing and pendency: "If you appeal within 30 days, the nursing home usually cannot make you move until you get a decision. The 30 days starts on the day you got this page. But, if you do not appeal within 30 days, you must move by the proposed date on the first page." TennCare states that on a timely appeal "a contested case hearing will be held and a written decision will be issued on the involuntary discharge."

Ombudsman in these sources

The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, in the Tennessee Commission on Disability and Aging. The notice publishes the contact: "Call 1-877-236-0013. Or write to them at 502 Deaderick Street, Andrew Jackson Building, 9th Floor, Nashville, TN 37243-0860." and states the service is free: "You can ask a resident advocate to help you. This person is the Long-Term Care Ombudsman and their services are free and confidential. They can explain this page to you. They can also help you appeal." The notice's own transmission grid records the date it went to the District LTC Ombudsman and the State LTC 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 Tennessee's own publishers state about involuntary transfer and discharge from a nursing home. 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 the Bureau of TennCare's own notice form, "Nursing Home Notice of Involuntary Transfer or Discharge" (Rev 02/2026) — the document a resident actually receives, written in short plain sentences addressed to the resident — read with Rule 1200-08-06-.05 of the Department of Health's nursing home standards and TennCare's appeals page. Tennessee's vocabulary is involuntary transfer or discharge; the appeal is a contested case hearing before TennCare's Commissioner's Designee.

Three publishers hold it: TennCare prescribes the notice and hears the appeal, the Department of Health's rule governs the facility's conduct before the move, and the Commission on Disability and Aging houses the ombudsman. 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.