(a) Assessment.--Commencing July 1, 2008, each nursing home shall pay the department a surcharge on its licensing fee as necessary to provide sufficient revenues for the authority to perform its responsibilities under this chapter. The total annual assessment for all nursing homes shall not be more than an aggregate amount of $1,000,000. The department shall transfer the total assessment amount to the fund within 30 days of receipt.

(b) Base amount.--For each succeeding calendar year, the authority shall determine the appropriate assessment amount and the department shall assess each nursing home its proportionate share of the authority's budget for its responsibilities under this chapter. The total assessment amount shall not be more than $1,000,000 in fiscal year 2008-2009 and shall be increased according to the Consumer Price Index in each succeeding fiscal year.

(c) Expenditures.--Money appropriated to the fund under this chapter shall be expended by the authority to implement this chapter.

(d) Dissolution.--In the event that the fund is discontinued or the authority is dissolved by operation of law, any balance paid by nursing homes remaining in the fund, after deducting administrative costs of liquidation, shall be returned to the nursing homes in proportion to their financial contributions to the fund in the preceding licensing period.

(e) Failure to pay surcharge.--If, after 30 days' notice, a nursing home fails to pay a surcharge levied by the department under this chapter, the department may assess an administrative penalty of $1,000 per day until the surcharge is paid.

(f) Reimbursable cost.--Subject to Federal approval, the annual assessment amount paid by a nursing home shall be a reimbursable cost under the medical assistance program. The Department of Public Welfare shall pay each nursing home, as a separate, pass-through payment, an amount equal to the assessment paid by a nursing home multiplied by the facility's medical assistance occupancy rate as reported in its annual cost report.