Resident protection.

(1) The Health Care Trust Fund shall be used for the purpose of collecting and disbursing funds generated from the license fees and administrative fines as provided for in ss. 393.0673(5), 400.062(3), 400.121(2), and 400.23(8). Such funds shall be for the sole purpose of paying for the appropriate alternate placement, care, and treatment of residents who are removed from a facility licensed under this part or a facility specified in s. 393.0678(1) in which the agency determines that existing conditions or practices constitute an immediate danger to the health, safety, or security of the residents. If the agency determines that it is in the best interest of the health, safety, or security of the residents to provide for an orderly removal of the residents from the facility, the agency may utilize such funds to maintain and care for the residents in the facility pending removal and alternative placement. The maintenance and care of the residents shall be under the direction and control of a receiver appointed pursuant to s. 393.0678(1) or s. 400.126(1). However, funds may be expended in an emergency upon a filing of a petition for a receiver, upon the declaration of a state of local emergency pursuant to s. 252.38(3)(b)5., or upon a duly authorized local order of evacuation of a facility by emergency personnel to protect the health and safety of the residents.

(2) The agency is authorized to establish for each facility, subject to intervention by the agency, a separate bank account for the deposit to the credit of the agency of any moneys received from the Health Care Trust Fund or any other moneys received for the maintenance and care of residents in the facility, and the agency is authorized to disburse moneys from such account to pay obligations incurred for the purposes of this section. The agency is authorized to requisition moneys from the Health Care Trust Fund in advance of an actual need for cash on the basis of an estimate by the agency of moneys to be spent under the authority of this section. Any bank account established under this section need not be approved in advance of its creation as required by s. 17.58, but shall be secured by depository insurance equal to or greater than the balance of such account or by the pledge of collateral security. The agency shall notify the Chief Financial Officer of any such account so established and shall make a quarterly accounting to the Chief Financial Officer for all moneys deposited in such account.

(3) Funds authorized under this section shall be expended on behalf of all residents transferred to an alternate placement, at the usual and customary charges of the facility used for the alternate placement, provided no other source of private or public funding is available. However, such funds may not be expended on behalf of a resident who is eligible for Title XIX of the Social Security Act, if the alternate placement accepts Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Funds shall be utilized for maintenance and care of residents in a facility in receivership only to the extent private or public funds, including funds available under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, are not available or are not sufficient to adequately manage and operate the facility, as determined by the agency. The existence of the Health Care Trust Fund shall not make the agency liable for the maintenance of any resident in any facility. The state shall be liable for the cost of alternate placement of residents removed from a deficient facility, or for the maintenance of residents in a facility in receivership, only to the extent that funds are available in the Health Care Trust Fund.