Section 68-11-280 - Assisted-care living facility trust fund—Establishment—Administration of fund—Carry over of remaining funds—Deposit of civil penalties(a) The executive director shall establish and maintain an assisted-care living facility trust fund known as the ACLF quality improvement fund. The ACLF quality improvement fund must be created by the deposit of all civil monetary penalties collected from assisted-care living facilities under this part. Funds deposited in the ACLF quality improvement fund must be used solely for the support of assisted-care living facility residents.(b)(1) The ACLF quality improvement fund is administered by a panel of at least seven (7) and no more than eleven (11) individuals.(2) At least seventy-five percent (75%) of the panel must be employees of an assisted-care living facility or an entity affiliated with an assisted-care living facility.(3) The executive director shall select and nominate individuals for the panel in consultation with the Tennessee center for assisted living, LeadingAge Tennessee, and Argentum.(4) Panel members nominated by the executive director must be ratified by the health facilities commission at the next scheduled commission meeting.(c) The executive director and the panel shall jointly create a formal process to allow licensed assisted-care living facilities and providers of services to assisted-care living facility residents to apply for funds from the ACLF quality improvement fund for one-time projects designed to improve care to residents of such facilities.(d) A project recommended for funding by the panel must be approved by the health facilities commission at the next scheduled commission meeting.(e)(1) The executive director shall establish and maintain an ACLF resident protection fund.(2) The ACLF resident protection fund must be maintained for the purpose of protecting the residents of an assisted-care living facility whose noncompliance with the conditions of continued licensure, applicable state rules, and contractual standards threatens the residents' continuous care, the residents' property, the assisted-care living facility's continued operation, or the assisted-care living facility's continued participation in the medical assistance program compiled in title 71, chapter 5, part 1.(3) In addition to any other lawful use of the ACLF resident protection fund, the. ACLF resident protection fund may also be used for making payments for temporary management for assisted-care living facilities.(4) The ACLF resident protection fund established by this subsection (e) must be funded by depositing twenty-five percent (25%) of each penalty collected from assisted-care living facilities and individuals under this part until the balance of the ACLF resident protection fund reaches seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000).(5) Any penalties collected while the balance of the ACLF resident protection fund is seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) or more must be deposited to the ACLF quality improvement fund established by subsection (a).(f) Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, any funds in either the ACLF quality improvement fund or the ACLF resident protection fund remaining unspent at the end of the fiscal year must be carried over into the budget of the health facilities commission for the subsequent fiscal year, and must continue to be carried over from year to year until expended for the purposes prescribed in this section.(g) The health facilities commission shall deposit any civil monetary penalties held by the commission on the effective date of this act into the ACLF quality improvement fund or the ACLF resident protection fund consistent with this section.Added by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 932,s 21, eff. 7/1/2024.