Act No. 3

Public Acts of 2003

Approved by the Governor

April 21, 2003

Filed with the Secretary of State

April 22, 2003

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 22, 2003

STATE OF MICHIGAN

92ND LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2003

Introduced by Reps. Woronchak, Anderson, Stewart, Rocca, Gieleghem, Woodward, Pappageorge, Phillips, Minore, Zelenko, Kolb, Jamnick, DeRossett, Richardville, Spade, Lipsey, Bisbee, Koetje, Kooiman, Voorhees, Middaugh, Hager, Ehardt, Meyer, Julian, Newell, Vander Veen, Howell, Ruth Johnson, Shackleton, Brown, Cheeks, Smith, Stallworth, Tobocman, Paletko, Pastor, LaJoy, Law, Brandenburg, Acciavatti, Condino, DeRoche, Taub, Amos, Stakoe, Garfield, Caswell, Shaffer, Hoogendyk, Nofs, Wenke, Ward, Byrum, Sak, Nitz, Stahl, Sheen, Huizenga, Farhat, Moolenaar, Gillard and Casperson

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4079

AN ACT to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled "An act to protect and promote the public health; to codify, revise, consolidate, classify, and add to the laws relating to public health; to provide for the prevention and control of diseases and disabilities; to provide for the classification, administration, regulation, financing, and maintenance of personal, environmental, and other health services and activities; to create or continue, and prescribe the powers and duties of, departments, boards, commissions, councils, committees, task forces, and other agencies; to prescribe the powers and duties of governmental entities and officials; to regulate occupations, facilities, and agencies affecting the public health; to regulate health maintenance organizations and certain third party administrators and insurers; to provide for the imposition of a regulatory fee; to promote the efficient and economical delivery of health care services, to provide for the appropriate utilization of health care facilities and services, and to provide for the closure of hospitals or consolidation of hospitals or services; to provide for the collection and use of data and information; to provide for the transfer of property; to provide certain immunity from liability; to regulate and prohibit the sale and offering for sale of drug paraphernalia under certain circumstances; to provide for the implementation of federal law; to provide for penalties and remedies; to provide for sanctions for violations of this act and local ordinances; to provide for an appropriation and supplements; to repeal certain acts and parts of acts; to repeal certain parts of this act; and to repeal certain parts of this act on specific dates," by amending sections 20194 and 21799a (MCL 333.20194 and 333.21799a), section 20194 as added by 1993 PA 79.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 20194. (1) Subject to subsections (2), (3), and (4), a health facility or agency, except a health facility or agency licensed under part 209, and including a health facility that is not licensed under this article but holds itself out as providing medical services, shall conspicuously display in the patient waiting areas or other common areas of the health facility or agency copies of a pamphlet developed by the department of consumer and industry services outlining the procedure for filing a complaint against a health facility or agency with the department and the procedure for filing a complaint against an individual who is licensed or registered under article 15 and employed by, under contract to, or granted privileges by the health facility or agency. The pamphlet shall be developed and distributed by the department of consumer and industry services after consultation with appropriate professional associations.

(2) The department of consumer and industry services shall develop the pamphlets required under subsection (1) in languages that are appropriate to the ethnic composition of the patient population where the pamphlet will be displayed. The department shall use large, easily readable type and nontechnical, easily understood language in the pamphlet. The department shall periodically distribute copies of the pamphlet to each health facility or agency and to each unlicensed health facility described in subsection (1).

(3) The department of consumer and industry services shall include a model standardized complaint form in the pamphlet described in subsection (1). The department may develop a separate model standardized complaint form that is specific to a particular health facility or agency or category of health facilities and agencies. The department shall develop a model standardized complaint form that is specific to nursing homes. The department shall include on the model standardized complaint form, at a minimum, simple instructions on how to file a complaint, including with the nursing home as required under section 21723, the department, the state long-term care ombudsman, the Michigan protection and advocacy service, inc., and the health care fraud unit of the department of attorney general. The department shall distribute copies of the model standardized complaint form simultaneously with copies of the pamphlet as required under subsection (2). The nursing home shall conspicuously display and make available multiple copies of the pamphlet and model standardized complaint form with the complaint information required to be posted under section 21723 in the patient waiting areas or other common areas of the nursing home that are easily accessible to nursing home patients and their visitors, as described in subsection (1), and shall provide a copy of the pamphlet and complaint form to each nursing home resident or the resident's surrogate decision maker upon admission to the nursing home. The department shall include on the model standardized complaint form a telephone number for the receipt of oral complaints.

(4) The department may continue to distribute the complaint pamphlets within its possession on the effective date of the amendatory act that added this subsection until the department's stock is exhausted or until October 1, 2003, whichever is sooner. Beginning October 1, 2003, the department shall only distribute the complaint pamphlets and model standardized complaint forms that are in compliance with subsections (2) and (3).

(5) The department shall make the complaint pamphlet and the model standardized complaint form available to the public on the department's internet website. The department shall take affirmative action toward the development and implementation of an electronic filing system that would allow an individual to file a complaint through the website.

Sec. 21799a. (1) A person who believes that this part, a rule promulgated under this part, or a federal certification regulation applying to a nursing home may have been violated may request an investigation of a nursing home. The person shall submit the request for investigation to the department of consumer and industry services as a written complaint, or the department shall assist the person in reducing an oral request to a written complaint within 7 days after the oral request is made. A person filing a complaint under this subsection may file the complaint on a model standardized complaint form developed and distributed by the department under section 20194(3) or file the complaint as provided by the department on the internet.

(2) The substance of a complaint filed under subsection (1) shall be provided to the licensee no earlier than at the commencement of the on-site inspection of the nursing home that takes place pursuant to the complaint.

(3) A complaint filed under subsection (1), a copy of the complaint, or a record published, released, or otherwise disclosed to the nursing home shall not disclose the name of the complainant or a patient named in the complaint unless the complainant or patient consents in writing to the disclosure or the investigation results in an administrative hearing or a judicial proceeding, or unless disclosure is considered essential to the investigation by the department of consumer and industry services. If the department considers disclosure essential to the investigation, the department shall give the complainant the opportunity to withdraw the complaint before disclosure.

(4) Upon receipt of a complaint under subsection (1), the department of consumer and industry services shall determine, based on the allegations presented, whether this part, a rule promulgated under this part, or a federal certification regulation for nursing homes has been, is, or is in danger of being violated. The department shall investigate the complaint according to the urgency determined by the department. The initiation of a complaint investigation shall commence within 15 days after receipt of the written complaint by the department.

(5) If, at any time, the department of consumer and industry services determines that this part, a rule promulgated under this part, or a federal certification regulation for nursing homes has been violated, the department shall list the violation and the provisions violated on the state and federal licensure and certification forms for nursing homes. The department shall consider the violations, as evidenced by a written explanation, when it makes a licensure and certification decision or recommendation.

(6) In all cases, the department of consumer and industry services shall inform the complainant of its findings unless otherwise indicated by the complainant. Within 30 days after receipt of the complaint, the department shall provide the complainant a copy, if any, of the written determination, the correction notice, the warning notice, and the state licensure or federal certification form, or both, on which the violation is listed, or a status report indicating when these documents may be expected. The department shall include in the final report a copy of the original complaint. The complainant may request additional copies of the documents described in this subsection and upon receipt shall reimburse the department for the copies in accordance with established policies and procedures.

(7) The department of consumer and industry services shall make a written determination, correction notice, or warning notice concerning a complaint available for public inspection, but the department shall not disclose the name of the complainant or patient without the complainant's or patient's consent.

(8) The department of consumer and industry services shall report a violation discovered as a result of the complaint investigation procedure to persons administering sections 21799c to 21799e. The department shall assess a penalty for a violation, as prescribed by this article.

(9) A complainant who is dissatisfied with the determination or investigation by the department of consumer and industry services may request a hearing. A complainant shall submit a request for a hearing in writing to the director within 30 days after the mailing of the department's findings as described in subsection (6). The department shall send notice of the time and place of the hearing to the complainant and the nursing home.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Secretary of the Senate.

Approved

Governor.