(1) A nursing facility must send immediate written notification of the date of discharge or death of a medicaid resident to the department's local home and community service office.

(2) The nursing facility must:

(a) Notify the department of nursing facility discharge and readmission for all medicaid recipients admitted as hospital inpatients; and

(b) Document in the resident's clinical record all social/therapeutic leave exceeding twenty-four hours.

(3) The department will pay the nursing facility for a medicaid resident's social/therapeutic leave not to exceed a total of eighteen days per calendar year per resident.

(4) The department's home and community services may authorize social/therapeutic leave exceeding eighteen days per calendar year per resident when requested by the nursing facility or by the resident. In the absence of prior authorization from the department's home and community services, the department will not make payment to a nursing facility for leave days exceeding eighteen per calendar year per resident.

(5) An individual who is on social/therapeutic leave retains the status of a nursing facility resident.