Franciscan Healthcare Center

CDPH is responsible for ensuring nursing homes comply with state laws and regulations. In addition, CDPH has a cooperative agreement with CMS to ensure that facilities accepting Medicare and Medi-Cal (in California, Medicaid is referred to as Medi-Cal) payments meet federal requirements. Of California’s 126,800 nursing home beds, on any given day approximately 68 percent are occupied by a Medi-Cal beneficiary.

Each year, CDPH L&C staff conducts approximately 1,350 on-site inspections of nursing homes and responds to approximately 5,000 complaints and 5,300 events reported by facilities. Events that facilities are required to report to CDPH (“reportable events”) include interruptions of services essential to the health and safety of residents; alleged or suspected abuse; all fires, disasters, and other risks to resident life or health resulting from accidents or incidents at the facility; and administrator or director of nursing personnel changes. Investigation of complaints and reportable events also requires on-site inspections. These inspections, called surveys, evaluate compliance with both state and federal requirements.