§ 37-11-30 — Licensing of continuing care retirement community.

(A) A continuing care retirement community must not be operated or advertised, and a reservation deposit or an entrance fee must not be collected unless the appropriate license is obtained first from the department as provided in this chapter and any regulation promulgated pursuant to it. Unless otherwise specified, all references to a license in this chapter include both a preliminary license and a final license. The department shall establish reasonable licensing fees not to exceed the cost of administering this chapter. Licenses issued under this chapter expire on August thirty-first of each year. Licenses may be issued only for the premises and persons named in the application and are not transferable or assignable. (B) Applications for licenses must be in a form and under conditions as may be prescribed by the department and must set forth: (1) the name and business address of the operator and a statement of whether the operator is a partnership, corporation, or other type of legal entity; (2) the names and business addresses of the officers, directors, trustees, managing or general partners, any person having a five percent or greater equity or beneficial interest in the continuing care retirement community, and any person who will be managing the facility on a day-to-day basis, and a description of these persons' interests in or occupations with the operator. The following information on all persons named in response to this item is required: (a) a description of the business experience of the person, if any, in the operation or management of similar facilities; (b) the name and address of any professional service, firm, association, trust, partnership, or corporation in which this person has, or which has in this person, a five percent or greater interest and which is providing or in the future shall provide goods, leases, or services to the facility or to residents of the facility of an aggregate value determined by regulation within any year, including a description of the goods, leases, or services and their probable or anticipated cost to the facility, operator, or residents, or a statement that this cost presently cannot be estimated; (c) a description of any matter in which the person: (i) has been convicted of a felony or pleaded nolo contendere to a felony charge, or held liable or enjoined in a civil action by final judgment, if the felony or civil action involved fraud, embezzlement, fraudulent conversion, or misappropriation of property; or (ii) is subject to a currently effective injunctive or restrictive court order or within the past five years, had a state or federal license or permit suspended or revoked as a result of an action brought by a governmental agency or department; (3) a statement as to the operator's affiliation with a religious, charitable, or other nonprofit organization, the extent of the affiliation, if any, the extent to which the affiliate organization is responsible for the financial and contractual obligations of the operator, and the provision of the Federal Internal Revenue Code, if any, under which the operator or affiliate is exempt from the payment of income tax; (4) the location and description of the physical property of the facility, existing or proposed, and to the extent proposed, the estimated completion date, whether construction has begun, and the contingencies subject to which construction may be deferred; (5) the services provided or proposed to be provided pursuant to contracts for continuing care at the facility, including the extent to which medical care is furnished, and a clear statement of which services are included for specified basic fees for continuing care and which services are made available at or by the facility at extra charge; (6) a description of all fees required of residents, including the entrance fee and periodic charges, if any. The description must include: (a) a statement of the fees charged if the resident marries while at the facility and a statement of the terms concerning the entry of a spouse to the facility and the consequences if the spouse does not meet the requirements for entry; (b) the circumstances under which the resident is permitted to remain in the facility if he has financial difficulties; (c) the terms and conditions under which a contract for continuing care at the facility may be canceled by the operator or by the resident, and the conditions, if any, under which all or a portion of the entrance fee is refunded if the contract is canceled by the operator or by the resident if the resident dies before or following occupancy of a living unit; (d) the conditions under which a living unit occupied by a resident may be made available by the facility to a different or new resident; (e) the manner by which the operator may adjust periodic charges or other recurring fees and the limitations on these adjustments, if any. If the facility is already in operation or if the operator or manager operates one or more similar continuing care locations within this State, tables must be included showing the frequency and average dollar amount of each increase in periodic charges, or other recurring fees at each facility or location for the previous five years, or for all of the years in operation if less than five years; (7) the health and financial conditions required for a person to be accepted as a resident and to continue as a resident once accepted, including the effect of a change in the health or financial condition of a person between the date of entering a contract for continuing care and the date or initial occupancy of a living unit by that person; (8) the provisions that have been made or will be made, if any, to provide reserve funding or security to enable the operator to perform its obligations fully under contracts to provide continuing care at the facility, including the establishment of escrow accounts, trusts, or reserve funds, together with the manner in which these funds will be invested and the names and experience of individuals in the direct employment of the operator who will make the investment decisions; (9) certified financial statements of the operator, including a balance sheet as of the end of the most recent fiscal year and income statements for the three most recent fiscal years of the operator or for all of the years in existence if less than three years. If the operator's fiscal year ended more than one hundred twenty days before the date the application for a license is filed, interim financial statements as of a date not more than ninety days before the date of filing the application must be included but need not be certified; (10) if the continuing care contract provides for services for the life of the person or for more than one year including mutually terminable contracts, a summary of a report of an actuary, updated every two years, that estimates the capacity of the operator to meet its contractual obligation to the residents; (11) if the facility has not begun operations, documentation by the operator that the proposed project is economically feasible, both immediately and long term, and can be accommodated in the patient charge structure without unreasonable increases; (12) the estimated number of residents of the facility to be provided services by the operator pursuant to the contract for continuing care; (13) a copy of the standard form of contract for continuing care used by the operator attached to each disclosure statement; (14) other material information concerning the facility or the operator as the operator wishes to include. (C) In addition to the information required in subsection (B)(1)-(8) and (11)-(14), an application for a preliminary license must set forth: (1) a copy of the reservation agreement used to collect reservation deposits; (2) a copy of the applicant's escrow agreement with a trust institution; and (3) a representative sample of any advertisements used or to be used for the facility.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1989 Act No. 97, SECTION 1; 1995 Act No. 19, SECTION 4; 2022 Act No. 197 (H.4983), SECTION 2, eff May 16, 2022. Effect of Amendment 2022 Act No. 197, SECTION 2, rewrote (A), and added (C).