Effective 28 Aug 2019

197.108. Former employees not to inspect or survey hospital — required disclosures — conflict of interest reporting. — 1. The department of health and senior services shall not assign an individual to inspect or survey a hospital, for any purpose, if the inspector or surveyor was an employee of such hospital or another hospital within its organization or a competing hospital within fifty miles of the hospital to be inspected or surveyed in the preceding two years.

2. For any inspection or survey of a hospital, regardless of the purpose, the department shall require every newly hired inspector or surveyor at the time of hiring or any currently employed inspector or surveyor as of August 28, 2019, to disclose:

(1) The name of every hospital in which he or she has been employed in the last ten years and the approximate length of service and the job title at the hospital; and

(2) The name of any member of his or her immediate family who has been employed in the last ten years or is currently employed at a hospital and the approximate length of service and the job title at the hospital.

­­The disclosures under this subsection shall be made to the department whenever the event giving rise to disclosure first occurs.

3. For purposes of this section, the phrase "immediate family member" shall mean a husband, wife, natural or adoptive parent, child, sibling, stepparent, stepchild, stepbrother, stepsister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild.

4. The information provided under subsection 2 of this section shall be considered a public record under the provisions of section 610.010.

5. Any person may notify the department if facts exist that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that any inspector or surveyor has any personal or business affiliation that would result in a conflict of interest in conducting an inspection or survey for a hospital. Upon receiving such notice, the department, when assigning an inspector or surveyor to inspect or survey a hospital, for any purpose, shall take steps to verify the information and, if the department has reason to believe that such information is correct, the department shall not assign the inspector or surveyor to the hospital or any hospital within its organization so as to avoid an appearance of prejudice or favor to the hospital or bias on the part of the inspector or surveyor.

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(L. 2019 S.B. 514)