Nursing home background checks required
Illinois lawmakers have taken steps to ensure sex offenders and other felons are not given free rein in nursing homes.
But the new rules just may cause more headaches in the already difficult process of placing loved ones in such care facilities, say nursing home representatives.
"Generally, we don't have a problem with it, and we think it's probably a good idea," said John Ragsdale, chief financial officer at Pleasant View Luther Home in Ottawa.
"But the process may take a while, and that may not be good for all situations."
Sunday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law new legislation, backed by Attyorney General Lisa Madigan and the senior-citizen advocacy group AARP, that will require Illinois nursing homes to identify registered sex offenders and other felons on probation or parole living in their facilities.
The law also requires nursing home administrators to notify employees, residents and their families that an offender lives there.
The law took effect immediately and the Illinois Department of Public Health, which oversees the state's 1,170 licensed long-term care facilities, established emergency rules to implement the law.
Under those rules, the IDPH is requiring that all 100,000 current nursing home residents undergo a criminal background check and be checked against sex offender databases maintained by the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The same requirements would also apply to all new admissions.
Further, nursing homes would be required to place a person identified as a known sex offender in a separate room in view of the nurses' station and develop a treatment plan before admission.
Tammy Leonard, a spokesperson with the IDPH, said the department began notifying nursing homes of the rule changes by fax on Tuesday.
The new rules were inspired by specific problems with a long-term care facility, closed last month in Evergreen Park, as well as news reports showing that more than 100 sex offenders were residing in licensed nursing care facilities in Illinois.
Nursing home administrators contacted by The Daily Times backed the "spirit" of the new rules.
"The act is, we believe, appropriate for the safety and security of our residents," said Lori Laughlin, a spokesperson for Heritage Enterprises.
The company operates 34 care facilities in the state, including Heritage Manor in Peru, Mendota and Streator.
But she and Ragsdale acknowledged that the rules requiring the background checks - and particularly the immediate implementation - would present some hurdles to nursing homes.
Ragsdale noted that in some instances, nursing homes are given very little time to transfer a patient from a hospital to the care facility.
He said Pleasant View routinely takes in about 5 to 10 new residents per week for stays ranging from a month to years.
According to the Illinois Health Care Association, more than half of new admissions to nursing homes come directly from hospitals.
In those instances, the new rules could lead to delay and perhaps confusion, as the required background checks can take more than three days.
"So what happens when we say, 'Wait, the background check hasn't been completed,'" said Ragsdale.
He also questioned who would pay for the background checks.
However, Laughlin said the new rules do not represent a marked departure for Heritage Enterprises, as the operator already refuses admittance to known sex offenders and boasts a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse.
Leonard said the rules do allow nursing homes to make exceptions in "rare instances" that require immediate care inside the typical three-day background check.
And she said the law allows nursing homes to deny care to patients identified as sex offenders if they lack the necessary staff or facilities to "meet the needs of the offenders."
Story taken from the following website: http://www.times-press.com/newsmain.php?storyid=12301
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