Bill Text: IL SB3615 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Nursing Home Care Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to establish by rule guidelines for required continuing education of all employees who inspect, survey, or evaluate a facility and to offer continuing education opportunities at least quarterly. Provides that the Department shall notify a facility and complainant of its findings regarding a complainant's complaint within 5 calendar days (rather than 10 days) of the determination. Provides that employees of a State or unit of local government agency charged with inspecting, surveying, or evaluating facilities are required to complete at least 10 hours of continuing education annually. Provides that if a facility is found to have violated any provision of the Act or rule adopted under the Act, the facility shall develop a plan of correction to address deficiencies indicated in a statement of deficiency. Requires the Department to approve or deny the plan of correction within 72 hours after receiving the plan of correction. Provides that the Department shall conduct an annual review of all survey activity from the preceding calendar year (rather than conduct an annual review) and make a report including specified information concerning the complaint and survey process. Contains other provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-18 - Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Antonio Muñoz [SB3615 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-SB3615-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 SB3615 Introduced 1/19/2022, by Sen. Mattie Hunter SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
210 ILCS 45/3-212 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-212
210 ILCS 45/3-702 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-702
Amends the Nursing Home Care Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to establish by rule guidelines for required continuing education of all employees who inspect, survey, or evaluate a facility and to offer continuing education opportunities at least quarterly. Provides that the Department shall notify a facility and complainant of its findings regarding a complainant's complaint within 5 calendar days (rather than 10 days) of the determination. Provides that employees of a State or unit of local government agency charged with inspecting, surveying, or evaluating facilities are required to complete at least 10 hours of continuing education annually. Provides that if a facility is found to have violated any provision of the Act or rule adopted under the Act, the facility shall develop a plan of correction to address deficiencies indicated in a statement of deficiency. Requires the Department to approve or deny the plan of correction within 72 hours after receiving the plan of correction. Provides that the Department shall conduct an annual review of all survey activity from the preceding calendar year (rather than conduct an annual review) and make a report including specified information concerning the complaint and survey process. Contains other provisions.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning regulation.
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 Sections 3-212 and 3-702 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. Submission of
a facility's current Consumer Choice Information Report
required by Section 2-214 shall be verified at time of
inspection. 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

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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

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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.
(a-3) The Department shall by rule establish guidelines
for required continuing education of all employees who
inspect, survey, or evaluate a facility. The Department shall
offer continuing education opportunities at least quarterly.
Employees of a State or unit of local government agency
charged with inspecting, surveying, or evaluating a facility
are required to complete at least 10 hours of continuing
education annually. Qualifying hours of continuing education
shall only be offered by the Department. Content presented
during the continuing education shall be consistent throughout
the State, regardless of survey region. The continuing
education required by this subsection is separate from any
continuing education required for any license that the
employee holds.
(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

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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, with the
Department's discretion to evaluate whether penalties are
warranted, under this Act. Enforcement of this Act against a

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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

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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 75
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.
(e) Revisit surveys. The Department shall conduct a
revisit to its licensure and certification surveys, consistent
with federal regulations and guidelines.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the
Department shall, no later than 180 days after the effective
date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly,
implement a single survey process that encompasses federal
certification and State licensure requirements, health and
life safety requirements, and an enhanced complaint
investigation initiative.
(1) To meet the requirement of a single survey
process, the portions of the health and life safety survey

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associated with federal certification and State licensure
surveys must be started within 7 working days of each
other. Nothing in this paragraph (1) of subsection (f) of
this Section applies to a complaint investigation.
(2) The enhanced complaint and incident report
investigation initiative shall permit the facility to
challenge the amount of the fine due to the excessive
length of the investigation which results in one or more
of the following conditions:
(A) prohibits the timely development and
implementation of a plan of correction;
(B) creates undue financial hardship impacting the
quality of care delivered to the resident;
(C) delays initiation of corrective training; and
(D) negatively impacts quality assurance and
patient improvement standards.
This paragraph (2) does not apply to complaint
investigations exited within 14 working days or a
situation that triggers an extended survey.
(Source: P.A. 98-104, eff. 7-22-13.)
(210 ILCS 45/3-702) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4153-702)
Sec. 3-702. (a) A person who believes that this Act or a
rule promulgated under this Act may have been violated may
request an investigation. The request may be submitted to the
Department in writing, by telephone, by electronic means, or

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by personal visit. An oral complaint shall be reduced to
writing by the Department. The Department shall make
available, through its website and upon request, information
regarding the oral and phone intake processes and the list of
questions that will be asked of the complainant. The
Department shall request information identifying the
complainant, including the name, address and telephone number,
to help enable appropriate follow-up. The Department shall act
on such complaints via on-site visits or other methods deemed
appropriate to handle the complaints with or without such
identifying information, as otherwise provided under this
Section. The complainant shall be informed that compliance
with such request is not required to satisfy the procedures
for filing a complaint under this Act. The Department must
notify complainants that complaints with less information
provided are far more difficult to respond to and investigate.
(b) The substance of the complaint shall be provided in
writing to the licensee, owner, or administrator upon no
earlier than at the commencement of an on-site inspection of
the facility which takes place pursuant to the complaint.
(c) The Department shall not disclose the name of the
complainant unless the complainant consents in writing to the
disclosure or the investigation results in a judicial
proceeding, or unless disclosure is essential to the
investigation. The complainant shall be given the opportunity
to withdraw the complaint before disclosure. Upon the request

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of the complainant, the Department may permit the complainant
or a representative of the complainant to accompany the person
making the on-site inspection of the facility.
(d) Upon receipt of a complaint, the Department shall
determine whether this Act or a rule promulgated under this
Act has been or is being violated. The Department shall
investigate all complaints alleging abuse or neglect within 7
calendar days after the receipt of the complaint except that
complaints of abuse or neglect which indicate that a
resident's life or safety is in imminent danger shall be
investigated within 24 hours after receipt of the complaint.
All other complaints shall be investigated within 30 calendar
days after the receipt of the complaint. The Department
employees investigating a complaint shall conduct a brief,
informal exit conference with the facility to alert its
administration of any suspected serious deficiency that poses
a direct threat to the health, safety or welfare of a resident
to enable an immediate correction for the alleviation or
elimination of such threat. Such information and findings
discussed in the brief exit conference shall become a part of
the investigating record but shall not in any way constitute
an official or final notice of violation as provided under
Section 3-301. All complaints shall be classified as "an
invalid report", "a valid report", or "an undetermined
report". For any complaint classified as "a valid report", the
Department must determine within 7 calendar 30 working days

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after any Department employee enters a facility to begin an
on-site inspection if any rule or provision of this Act has
been or is being violated.
(d-1) The Department shall, whenever possible, combine an
on-site investigation of a complaint in a facility with other
inspections in order to avoid duplication of inspections.
(e) In all cases, the Department shall inform the
complainant of its findings within 5 calendar 10 days of its
determination unless otherwise indicated by the complainant,
and the complainant may direct the Department to send a copy of
such findings to another person. The Department's findings may
include comments or documentation provided by either the
complainant or the licensee pertaining to the complaint. The
Department shall also notify the facility of such findings
within 5 calendar 10 days of the determination, but the name of
the complainant or residents shall not be disclosed in this
notice to the facility. The notice or statement of deficiency
of such findings shall include a copy of the written
determination; the correction order, if any; the warning
notice, if any; the inspection report; or the State licensure
form on which the violation is listed. If a facility is found
to have violated any provision of this Act or rule adopted
under this Act, the facility shall develop a plan of
correction to address deficiencies indicated in a statement of
deficiency. The facility shall submit the plan of correction
to the Department for approval. The Department must approve or

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deny the plan of correction within 72 hours after receiving
the plan of correction. If the facility's plan of correction
is denied, the Department must notify the facility within 48
hours after the denial determination and provide specific
reasons for the denial, a process to remedy the denial, and
requests for additional information, as needed, and complete
the plan of correction determination process within 48 hours
after receiving requested information from the facility. The
Department shall complete an on-site revisit or desk revisit
within 7 calendar days after approval of the facility's plan
of correction. During the on-site or desk revisit, the
Department must address the approved plan of correction and
clear any outstanding violation for which a plan of correction
has been approved before beginning a new complaint
investigation or annual review. If the Department receives an
abuse or neglect complaint that indicates a resident is in
immediate danger within the same time frame during which an
on-site revisit must be completed, the Department must conduct
the on-site revisit simultaneously with the new complaint
investigation. Under no circumstance may a violation remain
open if the Department has approved the facility's plan of
correction. If a facility fails to remedy the violation for
which an on-site revisit is being conducted, the facility must
correct any outstanding violation. Once the facility has
notified the Department that the facility is in compliance
with the plan of correction, the Department must complete an

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on-site revisit within 7 calendar days. If the Department
fails to complete a revisit within 7 calendar days after
approving a facility's plan of correction, the facility shall
be considered to be in substantial compliance.
(f) A written determination, correction order, or warning
notice concerning a complaint, together with the facility's
response, shall be available for public inspection, but the
name of the complainant or resident shall not be disclosed
without his consent.
(g) A complainant who is dissatisfied with the
determination or investigation by the Department may request a
hearing under Section 3-703. The facility shall be given
notice of any such hearing and may participate in the hearing
as a party. If a facility requests a hearing under Section
3-703 which concerns a matter covered by a complaint, the
complainant shall be given notice and may participate in the
hearing as a party. A request for a hearing by either a
complainant or a facility shall be submitted in writing to the
Department within 30 days after the mailing of the
Department's findings as described in subsection (e) of this
Section. Upon receipt of the request the Department shall
conduct a hearing as provided under Section 3-703.
(g-5) The Department shall conduct an annual review of all
survey activity from the preceding calendar year and make a
report concerning the complaint and survey process. The report
shall include, but not be limited to: that includes the total

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number of complaints received; the total number of 24-hour,
7-day, and 30-day complaints; , the breakdown of anonymous and
non-anonymous complaints; and whether the number of complaints
that were substantiated versus unsubstantiated; or not, the
total number of substantiated complaints that were completed
in the time frame determined under subsection (d); the total
number of informal dispute resolutions requested; the total
number of informal dispute resolution requests approved; the
total number of informal dispute resolutions that were
overturned or reduced in severity; the total number of
independent informal dispute resolutions requested; the total
number of independent informal dispute resolution requests
approved; the total number of independent informal dispute
resolutions that were overturned or reduced in severity; the
total number of revisits not completed within the statutorily
mandated time frames; the total number of nurse surveyors
hired during the calendar year; the total number of nurse
surveyors who left Department employment; the total number of
nurse surveyors who transferred to other positions within the
Department or transferred to another State agency; the total
number of Department employees entering long-term care
facilities for any reason who are fully vaccinated for
influenza and COVID-19; the total number of Department
employees entering long-term care facilities for any reason
who are not fully vaccinated for influenza and COVID-19; the
total number of Department employees who enter long-term care

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facilities and who have tested positive for COVID-19; , and any
other complaint information requested by the Long-Term Care
Facility Advisory Board created under Section 2-204 of this
Act or the Illinois Long-Term Care Council created under
Section 4.04a of the Illinois Act on the Aging. All of the
listed reporting criteria in this subsection and additional
complaint information requested by the Long-Term Care Facility
Advisory Board, the Illinois Long-Term Care Council, or the
General Assembly shall be provided in aggregate and broken
down by Office of Health Care Regulation region. In addition,
the Department shall provide Manatt health vaccine and health
equity report findings, information about continued progress
toward correcting identified deficiencies, and annual Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services' State Performance
Standards System results for the State of Illinois. This
report shall be provided to the Long-Term Care Facility
Advisory Board, the Illinois Long-Term Care Council, and the
General Assembly. The Long-Term Care Facility Advisory Board
and the Illinois Long-Term Care Council shall review the
report and suggest any changes deemed necessary to the
Department for review and action, including how to investigate
and substantiate anonymous complaints.
(h) Any person who knowingly transmits a false report to
the Department commits the offense of disorderly conduct under
subsection (a)(8) of Section 26-1 of the Criminal Code of
2012.

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(Source: P.A. 102-432, eff. 8-20-21.)