Effective 28 Aug 2009

198.525. Inspection of certain long-term care facilities, when — restrictions on surveyors, required disclosures — immediate family member defined — conflict of interest, when. — 1. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to section 198.526, in order to comply with sections 198.012 and 198.022, the department of health and senior services shall inspect residential care facilities, assisted living facilities, intermediate care facilities, and skilled nursing, including those facilities attached to acute care hospitals at least twice a year.

2. The department shall not assign an individual to inspect or survey a long-term care facility licensed under this chapter, for any purpose, in which the inspector or surveyor was an employee of such facility within the preceding two years.

3. For any inspection or survey of a facility licensed under this chapter, regardless of the purpose, the department shall require every newly hired inspector or surveyor at the time of hiring or, with respect to any currently employed inspector or surveyor as of August 28, 2009, to disclose:

(1) The name of every Missouri licensed long-term care facility in which he or she has been employed; and

(2) The name of any member of his or her immediate family who has been employed or is currently employed at a Missouri licensed long-term care facility.

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

4. For purposes of this section, the phrase "immediate family member" shall mean 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.

5. The information called for in this section shall be a public record under the provisions of subdivision (6) of section 610.010.

6. 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 facility. Upon receiving that notice, the department, when assigning an inspector or surveyor to inspect or survey a facility, for any purpose, shall take steps to verify the information and, if the department has probable cause to believe that it is correct, shall not assign the inspector or surveyor to the facility or any facility within its organization so as to avoid an appearance of prejudice or favor to the facility or bias on the part of the inspector or surveyor.

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(L. 1999 S.B. 8 & 173 § 4, A.L. 2003 S.B. 556 & 311, A.L. 2009 H.B. 395)