HB 2076

Abstract

Amends the Nursing Home Care Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to adopt criteria, by rule, to identify distressed facilities and to publish a list of distressed facilities quarterly. Provides that no facility shall be identified as a distressed facility unless it has committed a violation or deficiency that has harmed a resident. Removes existing language requiring the Department of Public Health to generate and publish quarterly a list of distressed facilities based on specified criteria. House Floor Amendment No. 1 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. In provisions relating to designation of distressed facilities, provides that the Department of Public Health shall, by rule, create a timeframe and a procedure on how a facility can be removed from the list and the list may not contain more than 40 facilities per quarter. Provides that a facility has the right to appeal a designation and the procedure for appealing shall be outlined in rule. Removes provisions relating to temporary managers, and provides that a monitor (rather than a temporary manager) may apply to the Equity in Long-term Care Quality Fund on behalf of the facility for grant funds to implement the plan of improvement. Provides that the Department's mentor program is for owners and operators (rather than owners) of distressed facilities and that the program shall provide technical assistance and guidance to facilities. Provides that the Department's rule criteria for restricting the owners of a facility may not prohibit an owner who acquires ownership of a facility that is already on the distressed facility list before the owner's acquisition of the facility from acquiring additional skilled nursing facilities. Excludes from the provisions homes, institutions, or other places operated by or under the authority of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs as those facilities are certified by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and not the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.