HB3508 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 08515 DRJ 31907 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
HB3508

Introduced 2/28/2007, by Rep. Kevin Joyce

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 105/4.03	from Ch. 23, par. 6104.03
20 ILCS 105/4.04	from Ch. 23, par. 6104.04
210 ILCS 45/2-214 new
815 ILCS 505/2ZZ new

Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging, the Nursing Home Care Act, and the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Provides that the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman shall: (1) operate an Internet database to aid Illinoisans and their families in making informed choices about long-term care; (2) in collaboration with the Attorney General, create a Consumer Choice Information Report form to be completed by long-term care facilities; (3) develop a database of Consumer Choice Information Reports completed by facilities that includes certain information as identified by the Attorney General; (4) make this information accessible to the public on the Internet by means of a hyperlink labeled "Resident's Right to Know" on the Office's World Wide Web home page; (5) have the authority, with the Attorney General, to ensure that information provided by a facility is accurate; and (6) request a new report from any licensed facility whenever it deems necessary. Requires nursing homes to file annual Consumer Choice Information Reports with the Office beginning July 1, 2008. Provides that a nursing home's violation of the Consumer Choice Information Report provisions is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning State government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Act on the Aging is amended by changing Sections 4.03 and 4.04 as follows:

(20 ILCS 105/4.03) (from Ch. 23, par. 6104.03)

Sec. 4.03. The Department on Aging, in cooperation with the Department of Human Services and any other appropriate State, local or federal agency, shall, without regard to income guidelines, establish a nursing home prescreening program to determine whether Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders victims, and persons who are deemed as blind or disabled as defined by the Social Security Act and who are in need of long term care, may be satisfactorily cared for in their homes through the use of home and community based services. Case coordination units under contract with the Department may charge a fee for the prescreening provided under this Section and the fee shall be no greater than the cost of such services to the case coordination unit. At the time of each prescreening, case coordination units shall provide information regarding the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman's Residents Right to Know website as authorized in subsection (c-5) of Section 4.04.

(Source: P.A. 89-21, eff. 7-1-95; 89-507, eff. 7-1-97.)

(20 ILCS 105/4.04) (from Ch. 23, par. 6104.04)

Sec. 4.04. Long Term Care Ombudsman Program.

(a) Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. The Department shall establish a Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, through the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman ("the Office"), in accordance with the provisions of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as now or hereafter amended.

(b) Definitions. As used in this Section, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) "Access" has the same meaning as in Section 1-104 of the Nursing Home Care Act, as now or hereafter amended; that is, it means the right to:

(i) Enter any long term care facility or assisted living or shared housing establishment or supportive living facility;

(ii) Communicate privately and without restriction with any resident who consents to the communication;

(iii) Seek consent to communicate privately and without restriction with any resident;

(iv) Inspect the clinical and other records of a resident with the express written consent of the resident;

(v) Observe all areas of the long term care facility or supportive living facilities, assisted living or shared housing establishment except the living area of any resident who protests the observation.

(2) "Long Term Care Facility" means (i) any facility as defined by Section 1-113 of the Nursing Home Care Act, as now or hereafter amended; and (ii) any skilled nursing facility or a nursing facility which meets the requirements of Section 1819(a), (b), (c), and (d) or Section 1919(a), (b), (c), and (d) of the Social Security Act, as now or hereafter amended (42 U.S.C. 1395i-3(a), (b), (c), and (d) and 42 U.S.C. 1396r(a), (b), (c), and (d)).

(2.5) "Assisted living establishment" and "shared housing establishment" have the meanings given those terms in Section 10 of the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act.

(2.7) "Supportive living facility" means a facility established under Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code.

(3) "State Long Term Care Ombudsman" means any person employed by the Department to fulfill the requirements of the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman as required under the Older Americans Act of 1965, as now or hereafter amended, and Departmental policy.

(3.1) "Ombudsman" means any designated representative of a regional long term care ombudsman program; provided that the representative, whether he is paid for or volunteers his ombudsman services, shall be qualified and designated by the Office to perform the duties of an ombudsman as specified by the Department in rules and in accordance with the provisions of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as now or hereafter amended.

(c) Ombudsman; rules. The Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman shall be composed of at least one full-time ombudsman and shall include a system of designated regional long term care ombudsman programs. Each regional program shall be designated by the State Long Term Care Ombudsman as a subdivision of the Office and any representative of a regional program shall be treated as a representative of the Office.

The Department, in consultation with the Office, shall promulgate administrative rules in accordance with the provisions of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as now or hereafter amended, to establish the responsibilities of the Department and the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman and the designated regional Ombudsman programs. The administrative rules shall include the responsibility of the Office and designated regional programs to investigate and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of residents of long term care facilities, supportive living facilities, and assisted living and shared housing establishments relating to actions, inaction, or decisions of providers, or their representatives, of long term care facilities, of supported living facilities, of assisted living and shared housing establishments, of public agencies, or of social services agencies, which may adversely affect the health, safety, welfare, or rights of such residents. When necessary and appropriate, representatives of the Office shall refer complaints to the appropriate regulatory State agency. The Department, in consultation with the Office, shall cooperate with the Department of Human Services in providing information and training to designated regional long term care ombudsman programs about the appropriate assessment and treatment (including information about appropriate supportive services, treatment options, and assessment of rehabilitation potential) of persons with mental illness (other than Alzheimer's disease and related disorders).

The State Long Term Care Ombudsman and all other ombudsmen, as defined in paragraph (3.1) of subsection (b) must submit to background checks under the Health Care Worker Background Check Act and receive training, as prescribed by the Illinois Department on Aging, before visiting facilities. The training must include information specific to assisted living establishments, supportive living facilities, and shared housing establishments and to the rights of residents guaranteed under the corresponding Acts and administrative rules.

(c-5) Consumer Choice Information Reports. The Office shall:

(1) Operate an Internet database to aid Illinoisans and their families in making informed choices about long-term care.

(2) In collaboration with the Attorney General, create a Consumer Choice Information Report form to be completed by all licensed long-term care facilities as defined in Section 1-113 of the Nursing Home Care Act.

(3) Develop a database of Consumer Choice Information Reports completed by long term care facilities that includes information in the following consumer categories as identified by the Attorney General:

(A) Facility information.

(B) Quality of life.

(C) Safety and security.

(D) Quality of care.

(E) Illinois Department of Public Health survey information.

(4) Make this information accessible to the public on the Internet by means of a hyperlink labeled "Resident's Right to Know" on the Office's World Wide Web home page.

(5) Have the authority, with the Attorney General, to ensure that information provided by a facility is accurate.

(6) Request a new report from any licensed facility whenever it deems necessary.

(d) Access and visitation rights.

(1) In accordance with subparagraphs (A) and (E) of paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Section 1819 and subparagraphs (A) and (E) of paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Section 1919 of the Social Security Act, as now or hereafter amended (42 U.S.C. 1395i-3 (c)(3)(A) and (E) and 42 U.S.C. 1396r (c)(3)(A) and (E)), and Section 712 of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as now or hereafter amended (42 U.S.C. 3058f), a long term care facility, supportive living facility, assisted living establishment, and shared housing establishment must:

(i) permit immediate access to any resident by a designated ombudsman; and

(ii) permit representatives of the Office, with the permission of the resident's legal representative or legal guardian, to examine a resident's clinical and other records, and if a resident is unable to consent to such review, and has no legal guardian, permit representatives of the Office appropriate access, as defined by the Department, in consultation with the Office, in administrative rules, to the resident's records.

(2) Each long term care facility, supportive living facility, assisted living establishment, and shared housing establishment shall display, in multiple, conspicuous public places within the facility accessible to both visitors and residents and in an easily readable format, the address and phone number of the Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman, in a manner prescribed by the Office.

(e) Immunity. An ombudsman or any representative of the Office participating in the good faith performance of his or her official duties shall have immunity from any liability (civil, criminal or otherwise) in any proceedings (civil, criminal or otherwise) brought as a consequence of the performance of his official duties.

(f) Business offenses.

(1) No person shall:

(i) Intentionally prevent, interfere with, or attempt to impede in any way any representative of the Office in the performance of his official duties under this Act and the Older Americans Act of 1965; or

(ii) Intentionally retaliate, discriminate against, or effect reprisals against any long term care facility resident or employee for contacting or providing information to any representative of the Office.

(2) A violation of this Section is a business offense, punishable by a fine not to exceed $501.

(3) The Director of Aging, in consultation with the Office, shall notify the State's Attorney of the county in which the long term care facility, supportive living facility, or assisted living or shared housing establishment is located, or the Attorney General, of any violations of this Section.

(g) Confidentiality of records and identities. The Department shall establish procedures for the disclosure by the State Ombudsman or the regional ombudsmen entities of files maintained by the program. The procedures shall provide that the files and records may be disclosed only at the discretion of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman or the person designated by the State Ombudsman to disclose the files and records, and the procedures shall prohibit the disclosure of the identity of any complainant, resident, witness, or employee of a long term care provider unless:

(1) the complainant, resident, witness, or employee of a long term care provider or his or her legal representative consents to the disclosure and the consent is in writing;

(2) the complainant, resident, witness, or employee of a long term care provider gives consent orally; and the consent is documented contemporaneously in writing in accordance with such requirements as the Department shall establish; or

(3) the disclosure is required by court order.

(h) Legal representation. The Attorney General shall provide legal representation to any representative of the Office against whom suit or other legal action is brought in connection with the performance of the representative's official duties, in accordance with the State Employee Indemnification Act.

(i) Treatment by prayer and spiritual means. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or require the medical supervision, regulation or control of remedial care or treatment of any resident in a long term care facility operated exclusively by and for members or adherents of any church or religious denomination the tenets and practices of which include reliance solely upon spiritual means through prayer for healing.

(Source: P.A. 93-241, eff. 7-22-03; 93-878, eff. 1-1-05.)

Section 10. The Nursing Home Care Act is amended by adding Section 2-214 as follows:

(210 ILCS 45/2-214 new)

Sec. 2-214. Consumer Choice Information Reports.

(a) Every facility as defined in Section 1-113 shall complete a Consumer Choice Information Report annually and shall file it with the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman. The first Consumer Choice Information Report is due to the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman on July 1, 2008. The Consumer Choice Information Report must be completed by the facility in full.

(b) A violation of any of the provisions of this Section constitutes an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. All remedies, penalties, and authority granted to the Attorney General by the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act shall be available to him or her for the enforcement of this Section.

Section 15. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2ZZ as follows:

(815 ILCS 505/2ZZ new)

Sec. 2ZZ. Long-term care facility; Consumer Choice Information Report. A long-term care facility that fails to comply with Section 2-214 of the Nursing Home Care Act commits an unlawful practice within the meaning of this Act.