Washington

Grounds stated in the sources

RCW 74.42.450(3) states four: "A resident shall be transferred or discharged only for medical reasons, the resident's welfare or request, the welfare of other residents, or nonpayment. A resident may not be discharged for nonpayment if the discharge would be prohibited by the medicaid program." WAC 388-97-0120(1) states six, and requires the facility to comply with the federal rules and the statute together: a move may not happen unless "At the resident's request;", "The transfer or discharge is necessary for the resident's welfare and the resident's needs cannot be met in the facility;", the resident's health has improved enough that the facility's services are no longer needed, "The safety of individuals in the facility is endangered;", "The health of individuals in the facility would otherwise be endangered; or" the resident has failed, after reasonable and appropriate notice, to pay. Before any of it, the facility "must first attempt through reasonable accommodations to avoid the transfer or discharge unless the transfer or discharge is agreed to by the resident."

Notice stated in the sources

Washington runs two periods, split by the kind of facility. The rule requires the notice to "Be provided 30 days in advance of a transfer or discharge initiated by the nursing facility, except that the notice may be given as soon as practicable when the facility cannot meet the resident's urgent medical needs", and to "Be provided 15 days in advance of a transfer or discharge initiated by the nursing home, unless the transfer is an emergency." It must "Be in writing, in language the resident understands;" and be given to the resident, the surrogate decision maker, the family "and to the department". Where the department itself decides a resident no longer needs nursing facility care, the statute requires thirty days' written notice and states: "A form for requesting a hearing to appeal the discharge decision shall be attached to the written notice." That notice must state the reason, "A statement that the resident has the right to appeal the discharge; and" the name, address and telephone number of the state long-term care ombuds.

Hearing office in these sources

Stated only for a department decision, and stated as an effect rather than an address. Under RCW 74.42.450(6), where the resident appeals a department discharge decision, "the resident shall not be discharged without the resident's consent until at least thirty days after a final order is entered upholding the decision to discharge the resident." The statute attaches the hearing-request form to the notice and names no office, and neither captured source states a forum, a deadline or an address for appealing a facility-initiated transfer or discharge. What the rule states instead is where the facility's notice must be copied: to "The department's home and community services" where the resident's health has improved, and to "The department's designated local office" where the move is for unmet needs, endangerment, or nonpayment.

Ombudsman in these sources

The Washington State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, whose published contacts are "ltcop@mschelps.org", "1-800-562-6028", "Fax: 253-815-8173", "TTY Number: 711" and "1200 S. 336th St, Federal Way, WA 98003". The programme also names a separate legal service: "Legal Counsel for Long-Term Care Office of Civil Legal Aid The new legal services program for Medicaid residents who are facing discharge or eviction from a community based care setting." at "(888) 437-0017".

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 Washington's own publishers state about transfer and discharge from a nursing facility or 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. Two sources carry nearly all of it — RCW 74.42.450 and WAC 388-97-0120 — and they are best read together, because the rule opens by requiring compliance with the federal regulations and the statute at once, and then adds Washington's own terms on top. Washington's vocabulary distinguishes a nursing facility from a nursing home, and the distinction is not cosmetic: it sets the notice period.

Two features stand out. The reasonable-accommodation duty in subsection (7) comes before the grounds rather than after them — the facility must first try to avoid the move, and may admit or retain only those it can safely serve with available staff or through accommodations required by federal or state antidiscrimination law. And the appeal machinery Washington states in statute is built for a department decision that a resident no longer needs nursing facility care, not for a facility's own decision to discharge: it is that notice which carries the hearing-request form, and that appeal which holds the move for thirty days past a final order. 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.