Public Act 0255 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB2765 Enrolled LRB098 03998 KTG 34931 b

Public Act 098-0255

AN ACT concerning public aid.

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 Section 4.03 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. Responsibility for prescreening shall be vested with case coordination units. Prescreening shall occur: (i) when hospital discharge planners have advised the case coordination unit of the imminent risk of nursing home placement of a patient who meets the above criteria and in advance of discharge of the patient; or (ii) when a case coordination unit has been advised of the imminent risk of nursing home placement of an individual in the community. The individual who is prescreened shall be informed of all appropriate options, including placement in a nursing home and the availability of in-home and community-based services and shall be advised of her or his right to refuse nursing home, in-home, community-based, or all services. In addition, the individual being prescreened shall be informed of spousal impoverishment requirements, the need to submit financial information to access services, and the consequences for failure to do so in a form and manner developed jointly by the Department on Aging, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Healthcare and Family 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 database as authorized in subsection (c-5) of Section 4.04.

(Source: P.A. 95-80, eff. 8-13-07; 95-823, eff. 1-1-09; 96-328, eff. 8-11-09.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.