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92nd General Assembly

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Public Act 92-0209

HB0313 Enrolled                                LRB9204424LBgc

    AN ACT concerning health care facilities.

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

    Section  5.   The  Nursing  Home  Care  Act is amended by
changing Section 3-212 as follows:

    (210 ILCS 45/3-212) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-212)
    Sec. 3-212. Inspection.
    (a)  The  Department,  whenever  it  deems  necessary  in
accordance with subsection (b),  shall  inspect,  survey  and
evaluate   every   facility   to  determine  compliance  with
applicable  licensure   requirements   and   standards.    An
inspection  should  occur  within  120  days prior to license
renewal.  The Department may periodically  visit  a  facility
for  the  purpose of consultation.  An inspection, survey, or
evaluation, other than an inspection  of  financial  records,
shall  be  conducted without prior notice to the facility.  A
visit for the sole purpose of consultation may be  announced.
The  Department shall provide training to surveyors about the
appropriate assessment, care planning, and  care  of  persons
with  mental  illness  (other  than  Alzheimer's  disease  or
related  disorders)  to  enable  its  surveyors  to determine
whether a  facility  is  complying  with  State  and  federal
requirements about the assessment, care planning, and care of
those persons.
    (a-1)  An employee of a State or unit of local government
agency  charged  with  inspecting,  surveying, and evaluating
facilities who directly or indirectly gives prior  notice  of
an   inspection,   survey,   or  evaluation,  other  than  an
inspection of financial records,  to  a  facility  or  to  an
employee of a facility is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
    An  inspector  or  an  employee  of  the  Department  who
intentionally  prenotifies  a facility, orally or in writing,
of a pending complaint investigation or inspection  shall  be
guilty  of  a  Class A misdemeanor.  Superiors of persons who
have prenotified a facility shall  be  subject  to  the  same
penalties,    if    they    have    knowingly   allowed   the
prenotification.  A person found  guilty  of  prenotifying  a
facility  shall  be  subject to disciplinary action by his or
her employer.
    If the Department has a good  faith  belief,  based  upon
information  that comes to its attention, that a violation of
this subsection has occurred, it must file a  complaint  with
the  Attorney  General  or the State's Attorney in the county
where the violation took place within 30 days after discovery
of the information.
    (a-2)  An employee of a State or unit of local government
agency charged  with  inspecting,  surveying,  or  evaluating
facilities   who   willfully   profits   from  violating  the
confidentiality of  the  inspection,  survey,  or  evaluation
process  shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony and that conduct
shall be deemed unprofessional conduct  that  may  subject  a
person  to loss of his or her professional license. An action
to prosecute a person for violating this subsection (a-2) may
be brought by either the  Attorney  General  or  the  State's
Attorney in the county where the violation took place.
    (b)  In   determining  whether  to  make  more  than  the
required  number  of  unannounced  inspections,  surveys  and
evaluations of a facility the Department shall  consider  one
or  more  of  the following: previous inspection reports; the
facility's history of compliance with  standards,  rules  and
regulations  promulgated  under  this  Act  and correction of
violations,  penalties  or  other  enforcement  actions;  the
number  and  severity  of  complaints  received   about   the
facility;  any  allegations  of  resident  abuse  or neglect;
weather  conditions;  health  emergencies;  other  reasonable
belief that deficiencies exist.
    (b-1)  The Department shall not be required to  determine
whether  a  facility certified to participate in the Medicare
program under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, or  the
Medicaid  program under Title XIX of the Social Security Act,
and which the Department determines by inspection under  this
Section  or  under  Section  3-702  of  this  Act  to  be  in
compliance with the certification requirements of Title XVIII
or  XIX,  is  in  compliance with any requirement of this Act
that  is  less  stringent  than  or  duplicates   a   federal
certification requirement.  In accordance with subsection (a)
of  this  Section  or  subsection  (d)  of Section 3-702, the
Department shall determine whether a certified facility is in
compliance with requirements of this Act that exceed  federal
certification requirements.  If a certified facility is found
to   be   out   of   compliance  with  federal  certification
requirements, the results of an inspection conducted pursuant
to Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act may be  used
as   the   basis  for  enforcement  remedies  authorized  and
commenced under this Act.  Enforcement of this Act against  a
certified   facility  shall  be  commenced  pursuant  to  the
requirements of this Act, unless enforcement remedies  sought
pursuant  to  Title  XVIII  or XIX of the Social Security Act
exceed those  authorized  by  this  Act.   As  used  in  this
subsection,   "enforcement   remedy"  means  a  sanction  for
violating a federal certification requirement or this Act.
    (c)  Upon  completion  of  each  inspection,  survey  and
evaluation,  the   appropriate   Department   personnel   who
conducted the inspection, survey or evaluation shall submit a
copy  of  their  report  to  the  licensee  upon  exiting the
facility,  and  shall  submit  the  actual  report   to   the
appropriate  regional  office of the Department.  Such report
and any recommendations for action by  the  Department  under
this  Act  shall be transmitted to the appropriate offices of
the associate  director  of  the  Department,  together  with
related  comments  or  documentation provided by the licensee
which may  refute  findings  in  the  report,  which  explain
extenuating   circumstances   that  the  facility  could  not
reasonably have prevented,  or  which  indicate  methods  and
timetables  for  correction  of deficiencies described in the
report. Without affecting the application of  subsection  (a)
of  Section  3-303,  any  documentation  or  comments  of the
licensee shall be provided within 10 days of receipt  of  the
copy  of  the  report.   Such  report  shall recommend to the
Director appropriate action under this Act  with  respect  to
findings   against  a  facility.   The  Director  shall  then
determine  whether  the  report's   findings   constitute   a
violation  or  violations of which the facility must be given
notice.  Such determination shall be based upon the  severity
of  the  finding,  the  danger  posed  to resident health and
safety,  the  comments  and  documentation  provided  by  the
facility, the diligence and efforts to correct  deficiencies,
correction  of  the  reported deficiencies, the frequency and
duration of similar findings  in  previous  reports  and  the
facility's  general  inspection history.  Violations shall be
determined under this subsection no later than 60 days  after
completion of each inspection, survey and evaluation.
    (d)  The Department shall maintain all inspection, survey
and  evaluation  reports  for  at  least  5 years in a manner
accessible to and understandable by the public.
(Source: P.A. 91-799, eff. 6-13-00.)
    Passed in the General Assembly May 09, 2001.
    Approved August 02, 2001.

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