|
|
Public Act 094-0934
|
| SB2491 Enrolled |
LRB094 16480 DRJ 51740 b |
|
|
AN ACT concerning regulation.
|
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
|
represented in the General Assembly:
|
Section 5. The Mental Health and Developmental |
Disabilities Administrative Act is amended by changing Section |
7.3 as follows:
|
(20 ILCS 1705/7.3)
|
Sec. 7.3. Nurse aide registry; finding of abuse or neglect. |
The
Department
shall require that no facility, service agency, |
or support agency providing
mental health
or developmental |
disability services that is licensed, certified, operated, or
|
funded by the
Department shall employ a person, in any |
capacity, who is identified by the
nurse aide
registry as |
having been subject of a substantiated finding of abuse or |
neglect
of a service recipient. Any owner or operator of a |
community agency who is identified by the nurse aide registry |
as having been the subject of a substantiated finding of abuse |
or neglect of a service recipient is prohibited from any |
involvement in any capacity with the provision of Department |
funded mental health or developmental disability services. The
|
Department shall establish and maintain the rules that are
|
necessary or
appropriate to effectuate the intent of this |
Section. The provisions of this
Section shall not
apply to any |
facility, service agency, or support agency licensed or |
certified
by a State
agency other than the Department, unless |
operated by the Department of Human
Services.
|
(Source: P.A. 92-473, eff. 1-1-02.)
|
Section 10. The Abused and Neglected Long Term Care |
Facility Residents Reporting
Act is amended by changing Section |
6.2 as follows:
|
|
(210 ILCS 30/6.2) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4166.2)
|
Sec. 6.2. Inspector General.
|
(a) The Governor shall appoint, and the Senate shall |
confirm, an Inspector
General. The Inspector General shall be |
appointed for a term of 4 years
and shall function within the |
Department of Human Services and report
to the Secretary of |
Human
Services and the Governor.
The Inspector General shall |
function independently within the Department of
Human Services |
with respect to the operations of the office, including the
|
performance of investigations and issuance of
findings and |
recommendations. The appropriation for the Office of Inspector
|
General shall be separate from the overall appropriation for |
the Department of
Human Services. The Inspector General shall
|
investigate reports of
suspected abuse or neglect (as those |
terms are defined in Section 3 of this
Act) of patients or |
residents in any mental health or developmental
disabilities |
facility operated by the Department of Human Services and shall
|
have authority to
investigate and take immediate action on |
reports of abuse or neglect of
recipients, whether patients or |
residents, in any mental health or
developmental disabilities |
facility or program that is licensed or certified
by the |
Department of Human Services (as successor to the Department of
|
Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities) or that is funded |
by the
Department of Human Services (as successor to the |
Department of Mental
Health and Developmental Disabilities) |
and is not licensed or
certified by any agency of the State. At |
the specific, written request of an
agency of the State other |
than the Department of Human Services (as successor
to the |
Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities), |
the
Inspector General may cooperate in investigating
reports of |
abuse and neglect of persons with mental illness or persons |
with
developmental disabilities. The Inspector General shall |
have no supervision
over or involvement in routine, |
programmatic, licensure, or certification
operations of the |
Department of Human Services or any of its funded agencies.
|
The Inspector General shall promulgate rules establishing |
|
minimum
requirements for reporting allegations of abuse and |
neglect and initiating,
conducting, and completing |
investigations. The
promulgated rules shall clearly set forth |
that in instances where 2 or more
State agencies could |
investigate an allegation of abuse or neglect, the
Inspector |
General shall not conduct an investigation that is redundant to |
an
investigation conducted by another State agency.
The rules |
shall establish criteria
for determining, based upon the nature |
of the allegation, the appropriate
method of investigation, |
which may include, but need not be limited to, site
visits, |
telephone contacts, or requests for written responses from |
agencies.
The rules shall also clarify how the Office of the |
Inspector General shall
interact with the licensing unit of the |
Department of Human Services in
investigations of
allegations |
of abuse or neglect. Any allegations or investigations of |
reports
made pursuant to this Act shall
remain confidential |
until a final report is completed.
The resident or patient who |
allegedly was abused or neglected and his or her
legal guardian |
shall be informed by the facility or agency of the report of
|
alleged abuse or neglect.
Final reports
regarding |
unsubstantiated or unfounded allegations shall remain |
confidential,
except that final reports may be disclosed |
pursuant to Section 6 of this
Act.
|
When the Office of the Inspector General has substantiated |
a case of abuse
or neglect, the Inspector General shall include |
in the final report any
mitigating or aggravating circumstances |
that were identified during the
investigation. Upon |
determination that a report of neglect is
substantiated, the |
Inspector General shall then determine whether such neglect
|
rises to the level of egregious neglect.
|
(b) The Inspector General shall, within 24 hours after |
determining that a reported allegation of suspected abuse or |
neglect
indicates that any possible criminal act has been |
committed
or that special
expertise is required in the |
investigation,
immediately notify the
Department of State |
Police or the appropriate law enforcement entity. The |
|
Department of State Police shall
investigate any report from a |
State-operated facility indicating a possible murder, rape, or |
other felony.
All investigations conducted by the Inspector |
General shall be conducted in
a manner designed to ensure the |
preservation of evidence for possible use
in a criminal |
prosecution.
|
(b-5) The Inspector General shall make a determination to |
accept or reject
a preliminary report of the
investigation of |
alleged abuse or neglect based on established investigative
|
procedures.
Notice of the Inspector General's determination |
must be given to
the person who claims to be the victim of the |
abuse or neglect, to
the person
or persons alleged to have been |
responsible for abuse or neglect, and to the
facility or |
agency.
The facility or agency or the person or persons alleged
|
to
have been responsible
for the abuse or neglect and the |
person who claims to be the victim of the
abuse or neglect may |
request clarification or
reconsideration
based on additional |
information. For cases where the allegation of abuse or
neglect |
is substantiated, the Inspector General shall require the |
facility or
agency to submit a written response. The written |
response from a facility or
agency shall address in a concise |
and reasoned manner the actions
that the agency or facility |
will take or has taken to protect the resident or
patient from |
abuse or neglect, prevent reoccurrences, and eliminate |
problems
identified and shall include implementation and |
completion dates for all such
action.
|
(c) The Inspector General shall, within 10 calendar days |
after the
transmittal date of a completed investigation where |
abuse or neglect is
substantiated or administrative action is |
recommended, provide a complete
report on the case to the |
Secretary of Human Services and to the agency in
which the |
abuse or neglect is
alleged to have happened.
The complete |
report shall include a written response from the agency or
|
facility operated by the State to the Inspector General that |
addresses in a
concise and reasoned manner the actions that the |
agency or facility
will take or has taken to protect the |
|
resident or patient from abuse or
neglect, prevent |
reoccurrences, and eliminate problems identified and
shall |
include implementation and completion dates for all such |
action. The
Secretary of Human Services shall accept or reject |
the
response and establish how the Department will determine |
whether the facility
or program followed the approved response. |
The Secretary may require
Department
personnel to visit the |
facility or agency for training, technical assistance,
|
programmatic, licensure, or certification purposes. |
Administrative action,
including sanctions, may be applied |
should the Secretary reject the response or
should the facility |
or agency fail to follow the approved response.
Within 30 days |
after the
Secretary has approved a response, the facility or |
agency making the response
shall provide an implementation |
report to the Inspector General on the status
of the corrective |
action
implemented. Within 60 days after the Secretary has |
approved the response,
the facility or agency shall send notice |
of the completion of the corrective
action or shall send an |
updated implementation report. The facility or agency
shall |
continue sending updated implementation reports every 60 days |
until the
facility or agency sends a notice of the completion |
of the corrective action.
The Inspector General shall review |
any implementation plan that takes more than
120 days. The |
Inspector General shall monitor compliance through a random
|
review of completed corrective actions. This monitoring may |
include, but need
not be limited to, site visits, telephone |
contacts, or requests for written
documentation from the
|
facility or agency to determine whether the facility or agency |
is in
compliance with the approved response. The facility or |
agency shall inform
the
resident or patient and the legal |
guardian whether the
reported allegation was substantiated, |
unsubstantiated, or unfounded.
There shall be an appeals |
process for any person or
agency that is subject to any action |
based on a recommendation or
recommendations.
|
(d) The Inspector General may recommend to the Departments |
of
Public Health and Human Services sanctions to be
imposed |
|
against mental health and developmental disabilities |
facilities
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Human |
Services for the protection
of residents,
including |
appointment of on-site monitors or receivers, transfer or |
relocation
of residents, and closure of units. The Inspector |
General may seek the
assistance of the Attorney General or any |
of the several State's attorneys in
imposing such sanctions. |
Whenever the Inspector General issues any
recommendations to |
the Secretary of Human Services, the Secretary shall provide
a |
written response.
|
(e) The Inspector General shall establish and conduct |
periodic
training programs for Department of Human Services |
employees concerning the
prevention and reporting of neglect |
and abuse.
|
(f) The Inspector General shall at all times be granted |
access to any
mental health or developmental disabilities |
facility operated by the
Department of Human Services, shall |
establish and
conduct unannounced site visits to those |
facilities at least once annually,
and shall be granted access, |
for the purpose of investigating a report of abuse
or neglect, |
to the records of the Department of Human Services and to any
|
facility or program funded by the Department of Human Services |
that is
subject
under the provisions of this Section to |
investigation by the Inspector General
for a report of abuse or |
neglect.
|
(g) Nothing in this Section shall limit investigations by |
the
Department of Human Services that may
otherwise be required |
by law or that may be necessary in that Department's
capacity |
as the central administrative authority responsible for the
|
operation of State mental health and developmental disability |
facilities.
|
(g-5) After notice and an opportunity for a hearing that is |
separate and
distinct
from the Office of the Inspector |
General's appeals process as implemented under
subsection (c) |
of this Section, the Inspector General shall report to the
|
Department of
Public Health's nurse aide registry under Section |
|
3-206.01 of the Nursing Home
Care Act
the identity of |
individuals against whom there has been a substantiated
finding |
of
physical or sexual
abuse or egregious neglect of a service |
recipient.
|
Nothing in this subsection shall diminish or impair the |
rights of a person
who
is a
member of a collective bargaining |
unit pursuant to the Illinois
Public Labor
Relations Act or |
pursuant to any federal labor statute.
An individual who is a |
member of a collective bargaining unit as described
above shall |
not be reported to the Department of Public Health's nurse aide
|
registry until the exhaustion of that individual's grievance |
and arbitration
rights, or until 3 months after the initiation |
of the grievance process,
whichever occurs first, provided that |
the Department of Human
Services' hearing under this subsection |
regarding the reporting of an individual to the Department of |
Public Health's nurse aide registry
subsection (c), that is |
separate and
distinct from the Office of the Inspector |
General's
appeals process, has concluded.
Notwithstanding
|
anything
hereinafter or previously provided,
if an action taken |
by an employer against an individual as a result of the
|
circumstances that led to a finding of physical or sexual abuse |
or egregious
neglect is later overturned under a grievance or |
arbitration procedure provided
for in Section 8 of the Illinois |
Public Labor Relations Act or under a
collective bargaining |
agreement,
the report must be removed from the registry.
|
The Department of Human Services shall promulgate or amend |
rules as
necessary or appropriate to establish procedures for |
reporting to the registry,
including the definition of |
egregious neglect,
procedures
for notice to the individual and |
victim,
appeal and hearing procedures, and petition for
removal |
of
the report
from the registry.
The portion of the rules |
pertaining to hearings shall provide that, at the
hearing, both |
parties may present written and oral evidence.
The Department |
shall be required to establish by a preponderance of the
|
evidence that the Office of the Inspector General's finding of |
physical or
sexual abuse or egregious neglect warrants |
|
reporting to the Department of
Public Health's nurse aide |
registry under Section 3-206.01 of the Nursing Home
Care Act.
|
Notice to the individual shall include a clear and concise |
statement of the
grounds
on which the report to the registry is |
based and notice of the opportunity for
a hearing to
contest |
the report. The Department of Human Services shall provide the |
notice
by
certified mail to the last known address of the |
individual. The notice shall
give the individual an opportunity |
to contest
the report in
a hearing before the Department of |
Human Services or to submit a written
response to the
findings |
instead of requesting a hearing.
If the individual does not |
request a hearing or if after notice
and
a hearing
the |
Department of Human Services finds that the report is valid, |
the finding
shall be included as part of the registry, as well |
as a brief statement from
the reported individual if he or she |
chooses to make a statement. The
Department of Public Health |
shall make available to the public information
reported to the |
registry.
In a case of inquiries concerning an individual |
listed
in the registry, any information disclosed concerning a |
finding of abuse or
neglect shall also include disclosure of |
the individual's brief statement in
the registry relating to |
the reported finding or include a clear and accurate
summary of |
the statement.
|
At any time after the report of the registry, an individual |
may petition the
Department of Human Services for removal from |
the registry of the finding
against him or her. Upon receipt of |
such a petition, the Department of Human
Services shall conduct |
an investigation and hearing on the petition. Upon
completion |
of the investigation and hearing, the Department of Human |
Services
shall
report the removal of the finding to the |
registry unless the Department of
Human Services determines |
that removal is not in the public interest.
|
(Source: P.A. 93-636, eff. 12-31-03; 94-428, eff. 8-2-05.)
|
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
|