HOME OR COMMUNITY CARE PROVIDERS: CIVIL MONETARY PENALTIES.

(a) The commission may include in a contract for the delivery of medical assistance by a home or community care provider a provision for monetary penalties to be assessed for a contract violation or any violation of home or community care requirements, as required by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396t(j).

(b) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules governing the application of civil money penalties, including rules prescribing:

(1) criteria that describe when and how a civil money penalty may be assessed and the amount of the penalty;

(2) a system to ensure standard and consistent application of the penalties throughout the state; and

(3) an administrative appeals process to adjudicate claims in contested cases in accordance with Chapter 2001, Government Code.

(c) Rules adopted under this section must be designed to minimize the time between the identification of a violation and the final imposition of a penalty. Rules adopted under this section may authorize the imposition of a penalty that assesses and collects a monetary penalty, with interest, for a minimum penalty period and on a subsequent per diem basis.

(d) A penalty must be appropriate to the violation. The commission may assess incrementally more severe penalties for repeated or uncorrected violations.

(e) The commission shall review a penalized provider within 10 working days after the provider notifies the Department of Aging and Disability Services that the deficiency that caused the imposition of the penalty has been corrected. If the commission is unable to review the provider within that 10-working-day period, the penalty ceases on the earlier of the last day of the minimum penalty period or the date the provider gives notice to the Department of Aging and Disability Services.

(f) Money collected as a result of the imposition of penalties may be used for the protection of the health or property of an individual whose personal property was lost due to a failure of a home or community care provider to meet the requirements for participation as a provider of home or community care.