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| [ Engrossed ] | [ House Amendment 001 ] |
91_HB0831
LRB9103501ACtm
1 AN ACT to amend the Nursing Home Care Act by changing
2 Section 3-212.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Nursing Home Care Act is amended by
6 changing Section 3-212 as follows:
7 (210 ILCS 45/3-212) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-212)
8 Sec. 3-212. Inspection.
9 (a) The Department, whenever it deems necessary in
10 accordance with subsection (b), shall inspect, survey and
11 evaluate every facility to determine compliance with
12 applicable licensure requirements and standards. An
13 inspection should occur within 120 days prior to license
14 renewal. The Department may periodically visit a facility
15 for the purpose of consultation. An inspection, survey, or
16 evaluation, other than an inspection of financial records,
17 shall be conducted without prior notice to the facility. A
18 visit for the sole purpose of consultation may be announced.
19 (a-1) An employee of a State or unit of local government
20 agency charged with inspecting, surveying, and evaluating
21 facilities who directly or indirectly gives prior notice of
22 an inspection, survey, or evaluation, other than an
23 inspection of financial records, to a facility or to an
24 employee of a facility is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
25 An inspector or an employee of the Department or an
26 employee of the Ombudsman Program or any of its volunteers
27 who prenotifies a facility, orally or in writing, of a
28 pending complaint, investigation, or inspection shall be
29 guilty of a Class 4 felony and shall be fined no less than
30 $10,000. Superiors of persons who have prenotified a
31 facility shall be subject to the same penalties, if they have
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1 knowingly allowed the prenotification. A person found guilty
2 of prenotifying a facility shall be subject to disciplinary
3 action by his or her employer and shall be forever barred
4 from participating in the Ombudsman Program.
5 If the Department has a good faith belief, based upon
6 information that comes to its attention, that a violation of
7 this subsection has occurred, it must file a complaint with
8 the Attorney General or the State's Attorney in the county
9 where the violation took place within 30 days after discovery
10 of the information.
11 (a-2) An employee of a State or unit of local government
12 agency charged with inspecting, surveying, or evaluating
13 facilities who willfully profits from violating the
14 confidentiality of the inspection, survey, or evaluation
15 process shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony and that conduct
16 shall be deemed unprofessional conduct that may subject a
17 person to loss of his or her professional license. An action
18 to prosecute a person for violating this subsection (a-2) may
19 be brought by either the Attorney General or the State's
20 Attorney in the county where the violation took place.
21 (b) In determining whether to make more than the
22 required number of unannounced inspections, surveys and
23 evaluations of a facility the Department shall consider one
24 or more of the following: previous inspection reports; the
25 facility's history of compliance with standards, rules and
26 regulations promulgated under this Act and correction of
27 violations, penalties or other enforcement actions; the
28 number and severity of complaints received about the
29 facility; any allegations of resident abuse or neglect;
30 weather conditions; health emergencies; other reasonable
31 belief that deficiencies exist.
32 (b-1) The Department shall not be required to determine
33 whether a facility certified to participate in the Medicare
34 program under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, or the
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1 Medicaid program under Title XIX of the Social Security Act,
2 and which the Department determines by inspection under this
3 Section or under Section 3-702 of this Act to be in
4 compliance with the certification requirements of Title XVIII
5 or XIX, is in compliance with any requirement of this Act
6 that is less stringent than or duplicates a federal
7 certification requirement. In accordance with subsection (a)
8 of this Section or subsection (d) of Section 3-702, the
9 Department shall determine whether a certified facility is in
10 compliance with requirements of this Act that exceed federal
11 certification requirements. If a certified facility is found
12 to be out of compliance with federal certification
13 requirements, the results of an inspection conducted pursuant
14 to Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act may be used
15 as the basis for enforcement remedies authorized and
16 commenced under this Act. Enforcement of this Act against a
17 certified facility shall be commenced pursuant to the
18 requirements of this Act, unless enforcement remedies sought
19 pursuant to Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act
20 exceed those authorized by this Act. As used in this
21 subsection, "enforcement remedy" means a sanction for
22 violating a federal certification requirement or this Act.
23 (c) Upon completion of each inspection, survey and
24 evaluation, the appropriate Department personnel who
25 conducted the inspection, survey or evaluation shall submit a
26 copy of their report to the licensee upon exiting the
27 facility, and shall submit the actual report to the
28 appropriate regional office of the Department. Such report
29 and any recommendations for action by the Department under
30 this Act shall be transmitted to the appropriate offices of
31 the associate director of the Department, together with
32 related comments or documentation provided by the licensee
33 which may refute findings in the report, which explain
34 extenuating circumstances that the facility could not
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1 reasonably have prevented, or which indicate methods and
2 timetables for correction of deficiencies described in the
3 report. Without affecting the application of subsection (a)
4 of Section 3-303, any documentation or comments of the
5 licensee shall be provided within 10 days of receipt of the
6 copy of the report. Such report shall recommend to the
7 Director appropriate action under this Act with respect to
8 findings against a facility. The Director shall then
9 determine whether the report's findings constitute a
10 violation or violations of which the facility must be given
11 notice. Such determination shall be based upon the severity
12 of the finding, the danger posed to resident health and
13 safety, the comments and documentation provided by the
14 facility, the diligence and efforts to correct deficiencies,
15 correction of the reported deficiencies, the frequency and
16 duration of similar findings in previous reports and the
17 facility's general inspection history. Violations shall be
18 determined under this subsection no later than 60 days after
19 completion of each inspection, survey and evaluation.
20 (d) The Department shall maintain all inspection, survey
21 and evaluation reports for at least 5 years in a manner
22 accessible to and understandable by the public.
23 (Source: P.A. 88-278; 89-21, eff. 1-1-96; 89-171, eff.
24 1-1-96; 89-197, eff. 7-21-95; 89-626, eff. 8-9-96.)