Public Act 103-0303
 
HB2285 EnrolledLRB103 26209 AMQ 52568 b


  
    AN ACT concerning regulation.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  
 
 
    Section 5. The Health Care Worker Background Check Act is 
amended  by changing Section 15 as follows:
 


    (225 ILCS 46/15)




    Sec. 15. Definitions. In this Act:

    "Applicant" means an individual enrolling in a training 
program, seeking employment, whether paid or  on a volunteer 
basis, with a health care
employer who has received a bona fide 
conditional offer of employment.

    "Conditional offer of employment" means a bona fide offer 
of employment by a
health care employer to an applicant, which 
is contingent upon the receipt of a
report from the Department 
of Public Health indicating that the applicant does
not have a 
record of conviction of any of the criminal offenses 
enumerated in
Section 25.

    "Department" means the Department of Public Health. 
    "Direct care" means the provision of nursing care or 
assistance with feeding,
dressing, movement, bathing, 
toileting, or other personal needs, including home services as 
defined in the Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing 
Agency Licensing Act.  The entity
responsible for inspecting 
and licensing, certifying, or registering the
health care 
employer may, by administrative rule, prescribe guidelines for

interpreting this definition with regard to the health care 
employers that it
licenses.

    "Director" means the Director of Public Health. 
    "Disqualifying offenses" means those offenses set forth in 
Section 25 of this Act.
    "Employee" means any individual hired, employed, or 
retained, whether paid or  on a volunteer basis, to which this 
Act applies.
    "Finding" means the Department's determination of whether 
an allegation is verified and substantiated. 
    "Fingerprint-based criminal history records check" means a 
livescan fingerprint-based criminal history records check 
submitted as a fee applicant inquiry in the form and manner 
prescribed by the Illinois State Police.

    "Health care employer" means:

        (1) the owner or licensee of any of the
following:

            (i) a community living facility, as defined in the 
        Community Living
Facilities Licensing Act;

            (ii) a life care facility, as defined in the Life 
        Care Facilities Act;

            (iii) a long-term care facility;

            (iv) a home health agency, home services agency, 
        or home nursing agency as defined in the Home Health, 
        Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Licensing
Act;

            (v) a hospice care program or volunteer hospice 
        program, as defined in the Hospice Program Licensing 
        Act;

            (vi) a hospital, as defined in the Hospital 
        Licensing Act;

            (vii) (blank);

            (viii) a nurse agency, as defined in the Nurse 
        Agency Licensing Act;

            (ix) a respite care provider, as defined in the 
        Respite Program Act;

            (ix-a) an establishment licensed under the 
        Assisted Living and Shared
Housing Act;

            (x) a supportive living program, as defined in the 
        Illinois Public Aid
Code;

            (xi) early childhood intervention programs as 
        described in 59 Ill. Adm.
Code 121;

            (xii) the University of Illinois Hospital, 
        Chicago;

            (xiii) programs funded by the Department on Aging 
        through the Community
Care Program;

            (xiv) programs certified to participate in the 
        Supportive Living Program
authorized pursuant to 
        Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code;

            (xv) programs listed by the Emergency Medical 
        Services (EMS) Systems Act
as
Freestanding Emergency 
        Centers;

            (xvi) locations licensed under the Alternative 
        Health Care Delivery
Act;

        (2) a day training program certified by the Department 
    of Human Services;


        (3) a community integrated living arrangement operated 
    by a community
mental health and developmental service 
    agency, as defined in the
Community-Integrated Living 
    Arrangements Licensure and Certification Act;

        (4) the State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, 
    including any regional long term care ombudsman programs 
    under Section 4.04 of the Illinois Act on the Aging, only 
    for the purpose of securing background checks; or

        (5) the Department of Corrections or a third-party 
    vendor employing certified nursing assistants working with 
    the Department of Corrections; or .
        (6) a financial management services entity contracted 
    with the Department of Human Services, Division of 
    Developmental Disabilities, which is not the employer of 
    personal support workers but supports individuals 
    receiving participant directed services, to administer the 
    individuals' employer authority. A financial management 
    services entity assists participants in completing 
    background check requirements, collecting and processing 
    time sheets for support workers, and processing payroll, 
    withholding, filing, and payment of applicable federal, 
    State, and local employment-related taxes and insurance. 
    "Initiate" means obtaining from
a student, applicant, or 
employee his or her social security number, demographics, a 
disclosure statement, and an authorization for the Department 
of Public Health or its designee to request a 
fingerprint-based criminal history records check; transmitting 
this information electronically to the Department of Public 
Health; conducting Internet searches on  certain web sites, 
including without limitation the  Illinois Sex Offender 
Registry, the Department of Corrections' Sex Offender Search 
Engine, the Department of Corrections' Inmate Search Engine, 
the Department of Corrections Wanted Fugitives Search Engine, 
the National Sex Offender Public Registry, and the List of 
Excluded Individuals and Entities database on the website of 
the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to 
determine if the applicant has been adjudicated a sex 
offender, has been a prison inmate, or has committed Medicare 
or Medicaid fraud, or conducting similar searches as defined 
by rule; and having the student, applicant, or employee's 
fingerprints collected and transmitted electronically to the 
Illinois  State Police.

    "Livescan vendor" means an entity whose equipment has been 
certified by the Illinois  State Police to collect an 
individual's demographics and inkless fingerprints and, in a 
manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police and the 
Department of Public Health, electronically transmit the 
fingerprints and required data to the Illinois  State Police 
and a daily file of required data to the Department of Public 
Health.  The Department of Public Health shall negotiate a 
contract with one or more vendors that effectively demonstrate 
that the vendor has 2 or more years of experience transmitting 
fingerprints electronically to the Illinois State Police and 
that the vendor can successfully transmit the required data in 
a manner prescribed by the Department of Public Health.  Vendor 
authorization may be further defined by administrative rule.

    "Long-term care facility" means a facility licensed by the 
State or certified under federal law as a long-term care 
facility, including without limitation facilities licensed 
under the Nursing Home Care Act, the Specialized Mental Health 
Rehabilitation Act of 2013, the ID/DD Community Care Act, or 
the MC/DD Act, a supportive living facility, an assisted 
living establishment, or a shared housing establishment or 
registered as a board and care home.

    "Resident" means a person, individual, or patient under 
the direct care of a health care employer or who has been 
provided goods or services by a health care employer. 
(Source: P.A. 101-176, eff. 7-31-19; 102-226, eff. 7-30-21; 
102-503, eff. 8-20-21; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 
5-13-22.)