The department shall notify affected placement agencies and the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 9701 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, whenever the department substantiates that a violation has occurred, which poses a serious threat to the health and safety of any resident when the violation results in the assessment of any penalty or causes an accusation to be filed for the revocation of a license. If the violation is appealed by the facility within 15 business days, the department shall only notify placement agencies of the violation when the appeal has been exhausted. If the appeal process has not been completed within 60 days, the placement agency shall be notified with a notation which indicates that the case is still under appeal. The notice to each placement agency shall be updated monthly for the following 24-month period and shall include the name and location of the facility, the amount of the fine, the nature of the violation, the corrective action taken, the status of the revocation, and the resolution of the complaint. At any time during which a facility is found to have one or more of the following serious deficiencies, the director shall provide an immediate notice of not to exceed five working days to the placement agency:

(a)  Discovery that an employee of the facility has a criminal record which would affect the facility’s compliance with Section 1522.

(b)  Discovery that a serious incident that resulted in physical or emotional trauma of a resident has occurred in a facility.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 823, Sec. 3. (AB 2231) Effective January 1, 2017.)