101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB5228

 

Introduced , by Rep. John Connor

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
225 ILCS 46/15

    Amends the Health Care Worker Background Check Act. Provides that "health care employer" includes the Department of Corrections or a third-party vendor employing certified nursing assistants working with the Department of Corrections. Effective immediately.


LRB101 19289 SPS 68755 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB5228LRB101 19289 SPS 68755 b

1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Health Care Worker Background Check Act is
5amended by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
6    (225 ILCS 46/15)
7    Sec. 15. Definitions. In this Act:
8    "Applicant" means an individual enrolling in a training
9program, seeking employment, whether paid or on a volunteer
10basis, with a health care employer who has received a bona fide
11conditional offer of employment.
12    "Conditional offer of employment" means a bona fide offer
13of employment by a health care employer to an applicant, which
14is contingent upon the receipt of a report from the Department
15of Public Health indicating that the applicant does not have a
16record of conviction of any of the criminal offenses enumerated
17in Section 25.
18    "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
19    "Direct care" means the provision of nursing care or
20assistance with feeding, dressing, movement, bathing,
21toileting, or other personal needs, including home services as
22defined in the Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing
23Agency Licensing Act. The entity responsible for inspecting and

 

 

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1licensing, certifying, or registering the health care employer
2may, by administrative rule, prescribe guidelines for
3interpreting this definition with regard to the health care
4employers that it licenses.
5    "Director" means the Director of Public Health.
6    "Disqualifying offenses" means those offenses set forth in
7Section 25 of this Act.
8    "Employee" means any individual hired, employed, or
9retained, whether paid or on a volunteer basis, to which this
10Act applies.
11    "Finding" means the Department's determination of whether
12an allegation is verified and substantiated.
13    "Fingerprint-based criminal history records check" means a
14livescan fingerprint-based criminal history records check
15submitted as a fee applicant inquiry in the form and manner
16prescribed by the Department of State Police.
17    "Health care employer" means:
18        (1) the owner or licensee of any of the following:
19            (i) a community living facility, as defined in the
20        Community Living Facilities Act;
21            (ii) a life care facility, as defined in the Life
22        Care Facilities Act;
23            (iii) a long-term care facility;
24            (iv) a home health agency, home services agency, or
25        home nursing agency as defined in the Home Health, Home
26        Services, and Home Nursing Agency Licensing Act;

 

 

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1            (v) a hospice care program or volunteer hospice
2        program, as defined in the Hospice Program Licensing
3        Act;
4            (vi) a hospital, as defined in the Hospital
5        Licensing Act;
6            (vii) (blank);
7            (viii) a nurse agency, as defined in the Nurse
8        Agency Licensing Act;
9            (ix) a respite care provider, as defined in the
10        Respite Program Act;
11            (ix-a) an establishment licensed under the
12        Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act;
13            (x) a supportive living program, as defined in the
14        Illinois Public Aid Code;
15            (xi) early childhood intervention programs as
16        described in 59 Ill. Adm. Code 121;
17            (xii) the University of Illinois Hospital,
18        Chicago;
19            (xiii) programs funded by the Department on Aging
20        through the Community Care Program;
21            (xiv) programs certified to participate in the
22        Supportive Living Program authorized pursuant to
23        Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code;
24            (xv) programs listed by the Emergency Medical
25        Services (EMS) Systems Act as Freestanding Emergency
26        Centers;

 

 

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1            (xvi) locations licensed under the Alternative
2        Health Care Delivery Act;
3        (2) a day training program certified by the Department
4    of Human Services;
5        (3) a community integrated living arrangement operated
6    by a community mental health and developmental service
7    agency, as defined in the Community-Integrated Living
8    Arrangements Licensing and Certification Act; or
9        (4) the State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program,
10    including any regional long term care ombudsman programs
11    under Section 4.04 of the Illinois Act on the Aging, only
12    for the purpose of securing background checks; or .
13        (5) the Department of Corrections or a third-party
14    vendor employing certified nursing assistants working with
15    the Department of Corrections.
16    "Initiate" means obtaining from a student, applicant, or
17employee his or her social security number, demographics, a
18disclosure statement, and an authorization for the Department
19of Public Health or its designee to request a fingerprint-based
20criminal history records check; transmitting this information
21electronically to the Department of Public Health; conducting
22Internet searches on certain web sites, including without
23limitation the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, the Department
24of Corrections' Sex Offender Search Engine, the Department of
25Corrections' Inmate Search Engine, the Department of
26Corrections Wanted Fugitives Search Engine, the National Sex

 

 

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1Offender Public Registry, and the List of Excluded Individuals
2and Entities database on the website of the Health and Human
3Services Office of Inspector General to determine if the
4applicant has been adjudicated a sex offender, has been a
5prison inmate, or has committed Medicare or Medicaid fraud, or
6conducting similar searches as defined by rule; and having the
7student, applicant, or employee's fingerprints collected and
8transmitted electronically to the Department of State Police.
9    "Livescan vendor" means an entity whose equipment has been
10certified by the Department of State Police to collect an
11individual's demographics and inkless fingerprints and, in a
12manner prescribed by the Department of State Police and the
13Department of Public Health, electronically transmit the
14fingerprints and required data to the Department of State
15Police and a daily file of required data to the Department of
16Public Health. The Department of Public Health shall negotiate
17a contract with one or more vendors that effectively
18demonstrate that the vendor has 2 or more years of experience
19transmitting fingerprints electronically to the Department of
20State Police and that the vendor can successfully transmit the
21required data in a manner prescribed by the Department of
22Public Health. Vendor authorization may be further defined by
23administrative rule.
24    "Long-term care facility" means a facility licensed by the
25State or certified under federal law as a long-term care
26facility, including without limitation facilities licensed

 

 

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1under the Nursing Home Care Act, the Specialized Mental Health
2Rehabilitation Act of 2013, the ID/DD Community Care Act, or
3the MC/DD Act, a supportive living facility, an assisted living
4establishment, or a shared housing establishment or registered
5as a board and care home.
6    "Resident" means a person, individual, or patient under the
7direct care of a health care employer or who has been provided
8goods or services by a health care employer.
9(Source: P.A. 100-432, eff. 8-25-17; 101-176, eff. 7-31-19.)
 
10    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
11becoming law.