(320 ILCS 20/7.5)

Sec. 7.5. Registry.

(a) To protect individuals receiving in-home and community-based services, the Department on Aging shall establish an Adult Protective Service Registry that will be hosted by the Department of Public Health on its website effective January 1, 2015, and, if practicable, shall propose rules for the Registry by January 1, 2015.

(a-5) The Registry shall identify caregivers against whom a verified and substantiated finding was made under this Act of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or financial exploitation.

The information in the Registry shall be confidential except as specifically authorized in this Act and shall not be deemed a public record.

(a-10) Reporting to the Registry. The Department on Aging shall report to the Registry the identity of the caregiver when a verified and substantiated finding of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or financial exploitation of an eligible adult under this Act is made against a caregiver, and all appeals, challenges, and reviews, if any, have been completed and a finding for placement on the Registry has been sustained or upheld.

A finding against a caregiver that is placed in the Registry shall preclude that caregiver from providing direct care, as defined in this Section, in a position with or that is regulated by or paid with public funds from the Department on Aging, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Department of Human Services, or the Department of Public Health or with an entity or provider licensed, certified, or regulated by or paid with public funds from any of these State agencies.

(b) Definitions. As used in this Section:

"Direct care" includes, but is not limited to, direct access to a person aged 60 or older or to an adult with disabilities aged 18 through 59, his or her living quarters, or his or her personal, financial, or medical records for the purpose of providing nursing care or assistance with feeding, dressing, movement, bathing, toileting, other personal needs and activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living, or assistance with financial transactions.

"Participant" means an individual who uses the services of an in-home care program funded through the Department on Aging, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Department of Human Services, or the Department of Public Health.

(c) Access to and use of the Registry. Access to the Registry shall be limited to the Department on Aging, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Public Health and providers of direct care as described in subsection (a-10) of this Section. These State agencies and providers shall not hire, compensate either directly or on behalf of a participant, or utilize the services of any person seeking to provide direct care without first conducting an online check of whether the person has been placed on the Registry. These State agencies and providers shall maintain a copy of the results of the online check to demonstrate compliance with this requirement. These State agencies and providers are prohibited from retaining, hiring, compensating either directly or on behalf of a participant, or utilizing the services of a person to provide direct care if the online check of the person reveals a verified and substantiated finding of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or financial exploitation that has been placed on the Registry or when the State agencies or providers otherwise gain knowledge of such placement on the Registry. Failure to comply with this requirement may subject such a provider to corrective action by the appropriate regulatory agency or other lawful remedies provided under the applicable licensure, certification, or regulatory laws and rules.

(d) Notice to caregiver. The Department on Aging shall establish rules concerning notice to the caregiver in cases of a verified and substantiated finding of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or financial exploitation against him or her that may make him or her eligible for placement on the Registry.

(e) Notification to eligible adults, guardians, or agents. As part of its investigation, the Department on Aging shall notify an eligible adult, or an eligible adult's guardian or agent, that his or her caregiver's name may be placed on the Registry based on a finding as described in subsection (a-10) of this Section.

(f) Notification to employer. The Department on Aging shall notify the appropriate State agency or provider of direct care, as described in subsection (a-10), when there is a verified and substantiated finding of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or financial exploitation in a case under this Act that is reported on the Registry and that involves one of its caregivers. That State agency or provider is prohibited from retaining or compensating that individual in a position that involves direct care, and if there is an imminent risk of danger to the victim or an imminent risk of misuse of personal, medical, or financial information, that caregiver shall immediately be barred from providing direct care to the victim pending the outcome of any challenge, appeal, criminal prosecution, or other type of collateral action.

(g) Challenges and appeals. The Department on Aging shall establish, by rule, procedures concerning challenges and appeals to placement on the Registry pursuant to legislative intent. The Department shall not make any report to the Registry pending challenges or appeals.

(h) Caregiver's rights to collateral action. The Department on Aging shall not make any report to the Registry if a caregiver notifies the Department in writing that he or she is formally challenging an adverse employment action resulting from a verified and substantiated finding of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or financial exploitation by complaint filed with the Illinois Civil Service Commission, or by another means which seeks to enforce the caregiver's rights pursuant to any applicable collective bargaining agreement. If an action taken by an employer against a caregiver as a result of such a finding is overturned through an action filed with the Illinois Civil Service Commission or under any applicable collective bargaining agreement after that caregiver's name has already been sent to the Registry, the caregiver's name shall be removed from the Registry.

(i) Removal from Registry. At any time after a report to the Registry, but no more than once in each successive 3-year period thereafter, for a maximum of 3 such requests, a caregiver may request removal of his or her name from the Registry in relationship to a single incident. The caregiver shall bear the burden of establishing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that removal of his or her name from the Registry is in the public interest. Upon receiving such a request, the Department on Aging shall conduct an investigation and consider any evidentiary material provided. The Department shall issue a decision either granting or denying removal to the caregiver and report it to the Registry. The Department shall, by rule, establish standards and a process for requesting the removal of a name from the Registry.

(j) Referral of Registry reports to health care facilities. In the event an eligible adult receiving services from a provider agency changes his or her residence from a domestic living situation to that of a health care or long term care facility, the provider agency shall use reasonable efforts to promptly inform the facility and the appropriate Regional Long Term Care Ombudsman about any Registry reports relating to the eligible adult. For purposes of this Section, a health care or long term care facility includes, but is not limited to, any residential facility licensed, certified, or regulated by the Department of Public Health, Healthcare and Family Services, or Human Services.

(k) The Department on Aging and its employees and agents shall have immunity, except for intentional willful and wanton misconduct, from any liability, civil, criminal, or otherwise, for reporting information to and maintaining the Registry.

(Source: P.A. 102-244, eff. 1-1-22.)