Full Text of HB5134 97th General Assembly
HB5134 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012 HB5134 Introduced 2/8/2012, by Rep. David R. Leitch SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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210 ILCS 45/3-212 | from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-212 |
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Amends the Nursing Home Care Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to adopt rules to establish a process for independent third party investigation of a long-term care facility's complaint about Department employees or individuals acting on behalf of the Department in making an inspection, survey, or evaluation under the Act. Requires the rules to include necessary and appropriate protections to ensure that a person filing a complaint in good faith does not suffer any adverse effect on account of having done so. Effective January 1, 2013.
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| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning regulation.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Nursing Home Care Act is amended by changing | 5 | | Section 3-212 as follows:
| 6 | | (210 ILCS 45/3-212) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-212)
| 7 | | Sec. 3-212. Inspection.
| 8 | | (a) The Department, whenever it deems necessary in
| 9 | | accordance with subsection (b), shall inspect, survey and | 10 | | evaluate every
facility to determine compliance with | 11 | | applicable licensure requirements and
standards. Submission of | 12 | | a facility's current Consumer Choice Information Report | 13 | | required by Section 2-214 shall be verified at time of | 14 | | inspection. An inspection should occur within 120 days prior
to | 15 | | license renewal. The Department may periodically visit a | 16 | | facility for the
purpose of consultation. An inspection, | 17 | | survey, or evaluation, other than
an inspection of financial | 18 | | records, shall be conducted without prior notice
to the | 19 | | facility. A visit for the sole purpose of consultation may be
| 20 | | announced.
The Department shall provide training to surveyors | 21 | | about the appropriate
assessment, care planning, and care of | 22 | | persons with mental illness (other than
Alzheimer's disease or | 23 | | related disorders) to enable its surveyors to
determine whether |
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| 1 | | a facility is complying with State and federal requirements
| 2 | | about the assessment, care planning, and care of those persons.
| 3 | | (a-1) An employee of a State or unit of local government | 4 | | agency
charged with inspecting, surveying, and evaluating | 5 | | facilities who directly
or indirectly gives prior notice of an | 6 | | inspection, survey, or evaluation,
other than an inspection of | 7 | | financial records, to a facility or to an
employee of a | 8 | | facility is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
| 9 | | An inspector or an employee of the Department who | 10 | | intentionally prenotifies
a facility,
orally or in writing, of | 11 | | a pending complaint investigation or inspection shall
be guilty | 12 | | of a Class A misdemeanor.
Superiors of persons who have | 13 | | prenotified a facility shall be subject to the
same penalties, | 14 | | if they have knowingly allowed the prenotification. A person
| 15 | | found guilty of prenotifying a facility shall be subject to | 16 | | disciplinary action
by his or her employer.
| 17 | | If the Department has a good faith belief, based upon | 18 | | information that comes
to its attention, that a violation of | 19 | | this subsection has occurred, it must
file a complaint with the | 20 | | Attorney General or the State's Attorney in the
county where | 21 | | the violation
took place within 30 days after discovery of the | 22 | | information.
| 23 | | (a-2) An employee of a State or unit of local government | 24 | | agency charged with
inspecting, surveying, or evaluating | 25 | | facilities who willfully profits from
violating the | 26 | | confidentiality of the inspection, survey, or evaluation
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| 1 | | process shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony and that conduct | 2 | | shall be deemed
unprofessional conduct that may subject a | 3 | | person to loss of his or her
professional license. An action to | 4 | | prosecute a person for violating this
subsection (a-2) may be | 5 | | brought by either the Attorney General or the State's
Attorney | 6 | | in the county where the violation took place.
| 7 | | (b) In determining whether to make more than the required | 8 | | number of
unannounced inspections, surveys and evaluations of a | 9 | | facility the
Department shall consider one or more of the | 10 | | following: previous inspection
reports; the facility's history | 11 | | of compliance with standards, rules and
regulations | 12 | | promulgated under this Act and correction of violations,
| 13 | | penalties or other enforcement actions; the number and severity | 14 | | of
complaints received about the facility; any allegations of | 15 | | resident abuse
or neglect; weather conditions; health | 16 | | emergencies; other reasonable belief
that deficiencies exist.
| 17 | | (b-1) The Department shall not be required to determine | 18 | | whether a
facility certified to participate in the Medicare | 19 | | program under Title XVIII of
the Social Security Act, or the | 20 | | Medicaid program under Title XIX of the Social
Security Act, | 21 | | and which the Department determines by inspection under this
| 22 | | Section or under Section 3-702 of this Act to be in compliance | 23 | | with the
certification requirements of Title XVIII or XIX, is | 24 | | in compliance with any
requirement of this Act that is less | 25 | | stringent than or duplicates a federal
certification | 26 | | requirement. In accordance with subsection (a) of this Section
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| 1 | | or subsection (d) of Section 3-702, the Department shall | 2 | | determine whether a
certified facility is in
compliance with | 3 | | requirements of this Act that exceed federal certification
| 4 | | requirements. If a certified facility is found to be out of | 5 | | compliance with
federal certification requirements, the | 6 | | results of an inspection conducted
pursuant to Title XVIII or | 7 | | XIX of the Social Security Act may be used as the
basis for | 8 | | enforcement remedies authorized and commenced, with the | 9 | | Department's discretion to evaluate whether penalties are | 10 | | warranted, under this Act.
Enforcement of this Act against a | 11 | | certified facility shall be commenced
pursuant to the | 12 | | requirements of this Act, unless enforcement remedies sought
| 13 | | pursuant to Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act | 14 | | exceed those
authorized by this Act. As used in this | 15 | | subsection, "enforcement remedy"
means a sanction for | 16 | | violating a federal certification requirement or this
Act.
| 17 | | (c) Upon completion of each inspection, survey and | 18 | | evaluation, the
appropriate Department personnel who conducted | 19 | | the inspection, survey or
evaluation shall submit a copy of | 20 | | their report to the licensee upon exiting
the facility, and | 21 | | shall submit the actual report to the appropriate
regional | 22 | | office of the Department. Such report and any recommendations | 23 | | for
action by the Department under this Act shall be | 24 | | transmitted to the
appropriate offices of the associate | 25 | | director of the Department, together
with related comments or | 26 | | documentation provided by the licensee which may
refute |
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| 1 | | findings in the report, which explain extenuating | 2 | | circumstances that
the facility could not reasonably have | 3 | | prevented, or which indicate methods
and timetables for | 4 | | correction of deficiencies described in the report.
Without | 5 | | affecting the application of subsection (a) of Section 3-303, | 6 | | any
documentation or comments of the licensee shall be provided | 7 | | within 10
days of receipt of the copy of the report. Such | 8 | | report shall recommend to
the Director appropriate action under | 9 | | this Act with respect to findings
against a facility. The | 10 | | Director shall then determine whether the report's
findings | 11 | | constitute a violation or violations of which the facility must | 12 | | be
given notice. Such determination shall be based upon the | 13 | | severity of the
finding, the danger posed to resident health | 14 | | and safety, the comments and
documentation provided by the | 15 | | facility, the diligence and efforts to
correct deficiencies, | 16 | | correction of the reported deficiencies, the
frequency and | 17 | | duration of similar findings in previous reports and the
| 18 | | facility's general inspection history. Violations shall be | 19 | | determined
under this subsection no later than 90 days after | 20 | | completion of each
inspection, survey and evaluation.
| 21 | | (d) The Department shall maintain all inspection, survey | 22 | | and evaluation
reports for at least 5 years in a manner | 23 | | accessible to and understandable
by the public.
| 24 | | (e) Revisit surveys. The Department shall conduct a revisit | 25 | | to its licensure and certification surveys, consistent with | 26 | | federal regulations and guidelines. |
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| 1 | | (f) The Department shall adopt rules to establish a process | 2 | | for independent third party investigation of a facility's | 3 | | complaint about the conduct of Department employees or | 4 | | individuals acting on behalf of the Department in making an | 5 | | inspection, survey, or evaluation under this Act. The rules | 6 | | shall include at least the following: | 7 | | (1) The process for selecting and contracting with the | 8 | | independent third party. | 9 | | (2) The process by which a facility may file a | 10 | | complaint with the independent third party. | 11 | | (3) The process by which the independent third party | 12 | | shall receive and investigate complaints. | 13 | | (4) The extent of the independent third party's | 14 | | authority to resolve complaints. | 15 | | (5) Necessary and appropriate protections to ensure | 16 | | that a person filing a complaint in good faith does not | 17 | | suffer any adverse effect on account of having done so. | 18 | | (Source: P.A. 95-823, eff. 1-1-09; 96-1372, eff. 7-29-10.)
| 19 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | 20 | | 1, 2013.
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