LAC 48:I.4663. Health Care Facility Fund

A. The civil fines and interest collected from health care facilities, other than nursing homes, shall be deposited into the Health Care Facility Fund, hereafter referred to as trust fund. B. The department has the exclusive use of the funds contained in the trust fund. C. The monies in the trust fund shall be subject to annual appropriation by the legislature and shall be used exclusively for the following purposes: 1. the protection of health, welfare, rights or property of those receiving services from health care facilities; 2 the enforcement of sanctions against health care facilities; 3. the education, employment and training of employees, staff or other personnel of health care facilities; and/or 4. programs designed to improve the quality of care in health care facilities. D. The Health Care Facility Fund may not be used to fund re-occurring programs. E. The department is hereby authorized to enter into cooperative endeavor agreements with public and private entities for the approved expenditure of monies in the trust fund that achieve the purpose of the fund. F. The department has the discretion to require repayment of a disbursement from the trust fund. 1. If required, the terms of repayment of monies disbursed shall be determined by the secretary and may, where appropriate, be set forth in a contract signed by the secretary and the applicant or other party responsible for repayment. 2. Failure to repay the funds according to the established terms of repayment shall prevent future disbursements to the applicant from the trust fund until all monies are repaid. 3. Monies due and owing according to the established terms of repayment shall accrue interest at the current judicial interest rate. 4. If a facility fails to repay the funds according to the established terms of repayment, the department may recoup the amount of disbursement not repaid by a facility from the facility’s Medicaid payments or from any other payments owed to the facility from the department. 5. All monies collected pursuant to a repayment agreement or by recoupment shall be treated in the same manner as a collected civil fine.