There shall be a central register of all cases of suspected long term care facility resident abuse or neglect reported and maintained by the Department under this Act

There shall be a central register of all cases of suspected long term care facility resident abuse or neglect reported and maintained by the Department under this Act. Through the recording of initial, preliminary, progress, and final reports, the central register shall be operated in such a manner as to enable the Department to: (1) immediately identify and locate prior reports or cases of abuse or neglect; (2) continuously monitor the current status of all cases of abuse or neglect being provided services under this Act; and (3) regularly evaluate the effectiveness of existing laws and programs through the development and analysis of statistical and other information. The Department shall by rule adopt appropriate standards and procedures for the operation of the central register, including criteria to be used by long term care facility employees in determining whether abuse or neglect of a resident is suspected, and standards and procedures for making reports. The Department shall also take appropriate steps to ensure that all persons required to make reports under Section 4 are aware of those criteria, standards and procedures. The Department shall establish, in conjunction with the Department of Human Services, standards for evaluating reports of suspected abuse or neglect of recipients of mental health or developmental disability services to determine if a recipient's life or safety is in imminent danger, and for classifying other reports of suspected abuse and neglect for purposes of determining the necessity and schedule of an investigation. (Source: P.A. 89-507, eff. 7-1-97.)