Illinois Compiled Statutes 225 ILCS 46 Health Care Worker Background Check Act. Section 15

    (225 ILCS 46/15)

    Sec. 15. Definitions. In this Act:

    "Applicant" means an individual seeking employment with a health care employer who has received a bona fide conditional offer of employment.

    "Conditional offer of employment" means a bona fide offer of employment by a health care employer to an applicant, which is contingent upon the receipt of a report from the Department of Public Health indicating that the applicant does not have a record of conviction of any of the criminal offenses enumerated in Section 25.

    "Direct care" means the provision of nursing care or assistance with feeding, dressing, movement, bathing, toileting, or other personal needs, including home services as defined in the Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Licensing Act. The entity responsible for inspecting and licensing, certifying, or registering the health care employer may, by administrative rule, prescribe guidelines for interpreting this definition with regard to the health care employers that it licenses.

    "Disqualifying offenses" means those offenses set forth in Section 25 of this Act.

    "Employee" means any individual hired, employed, or retained to which this Act applies.

    "Fingerprint-based criminal history records check" means a livescan fingerprint-based criminal history records check submitted as a fee applicant inquiry in the form and manner prescribed by the Department of State Police.

    "Health care employer" means:

        (1) the owner or licensee of any of the following:

            (i) a community living facility, as defined in

        the Community Living Facilities Act;

            (ii) a life care facility, as defined in the Life

        Care Facilities Act;

            (iii) a long-term care facility;

            (iv) a home health agency, home services agency,

        or home nursing agency as defined in the Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Licensing Act;

            (v) a hospice care program or volunteer hospice

        program, as defined in the Hospice Program Licensing Act;

            (vi) a hospital, as defined in the Hospital

        Licensing Act;

            (vii) (blank);

            (viii) a nurse agency, as defined in the Nurse

        Agency Licensing Act;

            (ix) a respite care provider, as defined in the

        Respite Program Act;

            (ix-a) an establishment licensed under the

        Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act;

            (x) a supportive living program, as defined in

        the Illinois Public Aid Code;

            (xi) early childhood intervention programs as

        described in 59 Ill. Adm. Code 121;

            (xii) the University of Illinois Hospital,

        Chicago;

            (xiii) programs funded by the Department on Aging

        through the Community Care Program;

            (xiv) programs certified to participate in the

        Supportive Living Program authorized pursuant to Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code;

            (xv) programs listed by the Emergency Medical

        Services (EMS) Systems Act as Freestanding Emergency Centers;

            (xvi) locations licensed under the Alternative

        Health Care Delivery Act;

        (2) a day training program certified by the

    Department of Human Services;

        (3) a community integrated living arrangement

    operated by a community mental health and developmental service agency, as defined in the Community-Integrated Living Arrangements Licensing and Certification Act; or

        (4) the State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program,

    including any regional long term care ombudsman programs under Section 4.04 of the Illinois Act on the Aging, only for the purpose of securing background checks.

    "Initiate" means obtaining from a student, applicant, or employee his or her social security number, demographics, a disclosure statement, and an authorization for the Department of Public Health or its designee to request a fingerprint-based criminal history records check; transmitting this information electronically to the Department of Public Health; conducting Internet searches on certain web sites, including without limitation the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, the Department of Corrections' Sex Offender Search Engine, the Department of Corrections' Inmate Search Engine, the Department of Corrections Wanted Fugitives Search Engine, the National Sex Offender Public Registry, and the website of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to determine if the applicant has been adjudicated a sex offender, has been a prison inmate, or has committed Medicare or Medicaid fraud, or conducting similar searches as defined by rule; and having the student, applicant, or employee's fingerprints collected and transmitted electronically to the Department of State Police.

    "Livescan vendor" means an entity whose equipment has been certified by the Department of State Police to collect an individual's demographics and inkless fingerprints and, in a manner prescribed by the Department of State Police and the Department of Public Health, electronically transmit the fingerprints and required data to the Department of State Police and a daily file of required data to the Department of Public Health. The Department of Public Health shall negotiate a contract with one or more vendors that effectively demonstrate that the vendor has 2 or more years of experience transmitting fingerprints electronically to the Department of State Police and that the vendor can successfully transmit the required data in a manner prescribed by the Department of Public Health. Vendor authorization may be further defined by administrative rule.

    "Long-term care facility" means a facility licensed by the State or certified under federal law as a long-term care facility, including without limitation facilities licensed under the Nursing Home Care Act, the Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013, or the ID/DD Community Care Act, a supportive living facility, an assisted living establishment, or a shared housing establishment or registered as a board and care home.

(Source: P.A. 97-38, eff. 6-28-11; 97-227, eff. 1-1-12; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12; 98-104, eff. 7-22-13.)

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Last modified: February 18, 2015