(210 ILCS 45/3-202.2b)

Sec. 3-202.2b. Certification of psychiatric rehabilitation program.

(a) No later than January 1, 2011, the Department shall file with the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, proposed rules or proposed amendments to existing rules to establish a special certification program for compliance with 77 Ill. Adm. Code 300.4000 and following (Subpart S), which provides for psychiatric rehabilitation services that are required to be offered by a long-term care facility licensed under this Act that serves residents with serious mental illness. Compliance with standards promulgated pursuant to this Section must be demonstrated before a long-term care facility licensed under this Act is eligible to become certified under this Section and annually thereafter.

(b) No long-term care facility shall establish, operate, maintain, or offer psychiatric rehabilitation services, or admit, retain, or seek referrals of a resident with a serious mental illness diagnosis, unless and until a valid certification, which remains unsuspended, unrevoked, and unexpired, has been issued.

(c) A facility that currently serves a resident with serious mental illness may continue to admit such residents until the Department performs a certification review and determines that the facility does not meet the requirements for certification. The Department, at its discretion, may provide an additional 90-day period for the facility to meet the requirements for certification if it finds that the facility has made a good faith effort to comply with all certification requirements and will achieve total compliance with the requirements before the end of the 90-day period. The facility shall be prohibited from admitting residents with serious mental illness until the Department certifies the facility to be in compliance with the requirements of this Section.

(d) A facility currently serving residents with serious mental illness that elects to terminate provision of services to this population must immediately notify the Department of its intent, cease to admit new residents with serious mental illness, and give notice to all existing residents with serious mental illness of their impending discharge. These residents shall be accorded all rights and assistance provided to a resident being involuntarily discharged and those provided under Section 2-201.5. The facility shall continue to adhere to all requirements of 77 Ill. Adm. Code 300.4000 until all residents with serious mental illness have been discharged.

(e) A long-term care facility found to be out of compliance with the certification requirements under this Section may be subject to denial, revocation, or suspension of the psychiatric rehabilitation services certification or the imposition of sanctions and penalties, including the immediate suspension of new admissions. Hearings shall be conducted pursuant to Article III, Part 7 of this Act.

(f) The Department shall indicate, on its list of licensed long-term care facilities, which facilities are certified under this Section and shall distribute this list to the appropriate State agencies charged with administering and implementing the State's program of pre-admission screening and resident review, hospital discharge planners, Area Agencies on Aging, Case Coordination Units, and others upon request.

(g) No public official, agent, or employee of the State, or any subcontractor of the State, may refer or arrange for the placement of a person with serious mental illness in a long-term care facility that is not certified under this Section. No public official, agent, or employee of the State, or any subcontractor of the State, may place the name of a long-term care facility on a list of facilities serving the seriously mentally ill for distribution to the general public or to professionals arranging for placements or making referrals unless the facility is certified under this Section.

(h) Certification requirements. The Department shall establish requirements for certification that augment current quality of care standards for long-term care facilities serving residents with serious mental illness, which shall include admission, discharge planning, psychiatric rehabilitation services, development of age-group appropriate treatment plan goals and services, behavior management services, coordination with community mental health services, staff qualifications and training, clinical consultation, resident access to the outside community, and appropriate environment and space for resident programs, recreation, privacy, and any other issue deemed appropriate by the Department. The augmented standards shall at a minimum include, but need not be limited to, the following:

(1) Staff sufficient in number and qualifications necessary to meet the scheduled and unscheduled needs of the residents on a 24-hour basis. The Department shall establish by rule the minimum number of psychiatric services rehabilitation coordinators in relation to the number of residents with serious mental illness residing in the facility.

(2) The number and qualifications of consultants required to be contracted with to provide continuing education and training, and to assist with program development.

(3) Training for all new employees specific to the care needs of residents with a serious mental illness diagnosis during their orientation period and annually thereafter. Training shall be independent of the Department and overseen by an agency designated by the Governor to determine the content of all facility employee training and to provide training for all trainers of facility employees. Training of employees shall at minimum include, but need not be limited to, (i) the impact of a serious mental illness diagnosis, (ii) the recovery paradigm and the role of psychiatric rehabilitation, (iii) preventive strategies for managing aggression and crisis prevention, (iv) basic psychiatric rehabilitation techniques and service delivery, (v) resident rights, (vi) abuse prevention, (vii) appropriate interaction between staff and residents, and (viii) any other topic deemed by the Department to be important to ensuring quality of care.

(4) Quality assessment and improvement requirements, in addition to those contained in this Act on July 29, 2010 (the effective date of Public Act 96-1372), specific to a facility's residential psychiatric rehabilitation services, which shall be made available to the Department upon request. A facility shall be required at a minimum to develop and maintain policies and procedures that include, but need not be limited to, evaluation of the appropriateness of resident admissions based on the facility's capacity to meet specific needs, resident assessments, development and implementation of care plans, and discharge planning.

(5) Room selection and appropriateness of roommate assignment.

(6) Comprehensive quarterly review of all treatment plans for residents with serious mental illness by the resident's interdisciplinary team, which takes into account, at a minimum, the resident's progress, prior assessments, and treatment plan.

(7) Substance abuse screening and management and documented referral relationships with certified substance abuse treatment providers.

(8) Administration of psychotropic medications to a resident with serious mental illness who is incapable of giving informed consent, in compliance with the applicable provisions of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.

(i) The Department shall establish a certification fee schedule by rule, in consultation with advocates, nursing homes, and representatives of associations representing long-term care facilities.

(j) The Director or her or his designee shall seek input from the Long-Term Care Facility Advisory Board before filing rules to implement this Section.

Rules proposed no later than January 1, 2011 under this Section shall take effect 180 days after being approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

(Source: P.A. 103-154, eff. 6-30-23.)