SECTIONS 4075-4078 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 4075-4078

4075. The department shall establish and maintain an equitable
system of payment for the special needs of mentally disordered
persons in private residential care facilities for the mentally
disabled as follows:
(a) The department shall establish the rates of payment which
shall be based on the functional ability and programmatic needs of
clients. The department shall establish a standardized assessment
tool and client monitoring system for counties to use in determining
the functional ability and programmatic needs of mentally disordered
clients pursuant to this chapter.
(b) The department shall adopt regulations necessary to establish
eligibility criteria for private residential care facilities,
including, but not limited to, training and educational requirements
for facility operators and staff and ability to meet specified
special needs of clients.
(c) The department shall establish rates annually in consultation
with the California Conference of Local Mental Health Directors and
provider groups. These rates shall include, but not be limited to,
each of the cost elements in this section as follows:
(1) Rates established for all facilities shall include an adequate
amount to care for basic living needs of a mentally disordered
person. "Basic living needs" are defined to include housing,
including shelter, utilities, and furnishings; food; and personal
care. These amounts may be adjusted annually to reflect
cost-of-living changes. A redetermination of basic living costs shall
be undertaken every three years by the department using the best
available estimating methods.
(2) To the extent applicable, rates established for facilities
shall include a reasonable amount for unallocated services. These
costs shall be determined using generally accepted accounting
principles. "Unallocated services," for the purposes of this section,
means the indirect costs of managing a facility and includes costs
of managerial personnel, facility operation, maintenance and repair,
employee benefits, taxes, interest, insurance, depreciation, and
general and administrative support. If a facility serves other
persons in addition to mentally disordered persons, unallocated
services expenses shall be reimbursed under this section, only for
the proportion of the costs associated with the care of mentally
disordered persons.
(3) Rates established for facilities shall include an amount to
reimburse facilities for the depreciation of mandated capital
improvements and equipment as established in the state's uniform
accounting manual. For purposes of this section, "mandated capital
improvements and equipment" are only those remodeling and equipment
costs incurred by a facility because an agency of government has
required the remodeling or equipment as a condition for the use of
the facility as a provider of care to mentally disordered persons.
(4) To the extent applicable, rates established for all facilities
shall include as a factor an amount to reflect differences in the
cost of living for different geographic areas in the state.
(5) Rates established for facilities shall include an amount for
supervision where the functional ability or programmatic needs of
residents require augmented supervisory staff.
(6) Rates of payment for private residential care facilities shall
be established in such ways as to ensure the maximum utilization of
all federal and other sources of funding, to which mentally
disordered persons are legally entitled, prior to the commitment of
state funds for those purposes.
(d) In no case shall the rates established under this section be
less than the rates paid for equivalent categories of regional center
clients which were in effect on July 1, 1985.

4076. Counties which contract with private residential care
facilities for additional services for mentally disabled persons
involving payment of supplemental rates shall utilize the payment
rate system and facility guidelines for residential care facilities
established pursuant to this chapter.

4078. Facilities funded by contract for supplemental rates in
accordance with this chapter shall be licensed under existing
licensing categories, including provisional licenses.