Effective 28 Aug 2003

198.067. Noncompliance with law — injunction, when — civil penalties, how calculated, where deposited. — 1. An action may be brought by the department, or by the attorney general on his or her own volition or at the request of the department or any other appropriate state agency, to temporarily or permanently enjoin or restrain any violation of sections 198.003 to 198.096, to enjoin the acceptance of new residents until substantial compliance with sections 198.003 to 198.096 is achieved, or to enjoin any specific action or practice of the facility. Any action brought pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be placed at the head of the docket by the court, and the court shall hold a hearing on any action brought pursuant to the provisions of this section no less than fifteen days after the filing of the action.

2. The department may bring an action in circuit court to recover a civil penalty against the licensed operator of the facility as provided by this section. Such action shall be brought in the circuit court for the county in which the facility is located. The circuit court shall determine the amount of penalty to be assessed within the limits set out in this section. Appeals may be taken from the judgment of the circuit court as in other civil cases.

3. The operator of any facility which has been cited with a violation of sections 198.003 to 198.096 or the regulations established pursuant thereto, or of subsection (b), (c), or (d) of Section 1396r of Title 42 of the United States Code or the regulations established pursuant thereto, is liable to the state for civil penalties of up to twenty-five thousand dollars for each day that the violations existed or continue to exist. Violations shall be presumed to continue to exist from the time they are found until the time the department of health and senior services finds them to have been corrected. When applicable, the amount of the penalty shall be determined as follows:

(1) For each violation of a class I standard when applicable pursuant to subdivision (6) of this subsection, not less than one thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars;

(2) For each violation of a class II standard, not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars;

(3) For each violation of a class III standard, not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred fifty dollars;

(4) For each violation of a federal standard which does not also constitute a violation of a state law or regulation, not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars;

(5) For each specific class I violation by the same operator at a particular facility which has been previously cited within the past twenty-four months and for each specific class II or III violation by the same operator at a particular facility which has been previously cited within the past twelve months, double the amount last imposed;

(6) In accordance with the provisions of this section, if the department imposes a civil monetary penalty for a class I violation, the liability for such penalty shall be incurred immediately upon the imposition of the penalty for the violation regardless of any subsequent correction of the violation by the facility. For class II or III violations, if the department imposes a civil monetary penalty, the liability for such penalty shall be incurred if a breach of a specific state or federal standard or statute remains uncorrected and not in accord with the accepted plan of correction at the time of the reinspection conducted pursuant to subsection 3 of section 198.026 or the regulations established pursuant to Title 42 of the United States Code.

­­A judgment rendered against the operator of a facility pursuant to this subsection shall bear interest as provided in subsection 1 of section 408.040.

4. Any individual who willfully and knowingly certifies pursuant to subsection (b)(3)(B)(i) of Section 1396r of Title 42 of the United States Code a material and false statement in a resident assessment is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars with respect to each assessment. Any individual who willfully and knowingly causes another individual to certify pursuant to subsection (b)(3)(B)(i) of Section 1396r of Title 42 of the United States Code a material and false statement in a resident assessment is subject to a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars with respect to each assessment.

5. The imposition of any remedy provided for in sections 198.003 to 198.186 shall not bar the imposition of any other remedy.

6. Twenty-five percent of the penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the elderly home-delivered meals trust fund as established in section 143.1002. Twenty-five percent of the penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the nursing facility quality of care fund established in section 198.418 to be used for the sole purpose of supporting quality care improvement projects within the office of state ombudsman for long-term care facility residents, established pursuant to section 192.2305. The remaining fifty percent of the penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the nursing facility quality of care fund to be used by the department for the sole purpose of developing a program to assist qualified nursing facilities to improve the quality of service to their residents. The director of the department shall, by rule, develop a definition of qualified facilities and shall establish procedures for the selection of qualified facilities. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any* of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2003, shall be invalid and void. Such penalties shall not be considered a charitable contribution for tax purposes.

7. To recover any civil penalty, the moving party shall prove by clear and convincing evidence that the violation occurred.

8. The licensed operator of a facility against whom an action to recover a civil penalty is brought pursuant to this section may confess judgment as provided in section 511.070 at any time prior to hearing. If such licensed operator agrees to confess judgment, the amount of the civil penalty recommended by the moving party in its petition shall be reduced by twenty-five percent and the confessed judgment shall be entered by the circuit court at the reduced amount.

9. The amount of any civil penalty assessed by the circuit court pursuant to this section shall be reduced by the amount of any civil monetary penalty which the licensed operator of the facility may establish it has paid pursuant to the laws of the United States for the breach of the same federal standards for which the state action is brought.

10. In addition to the civil penalties specified in subdivision (1) of subsection 3 of this section, any facility which is cited with a violation of a class I standard pursuant to subsection 1 of section 198.085, when such violation results in serious physical injury or abuse of a sexual nature pursuant to subdivision (1) of section 198.006, to any resident of that facility shall be liable to the state for a civil penalty of one hundred dollars multiplied by the number of beds licensed to the facility, up to a maximum of ten thousand dollars pursuant to subsections 1 and 2 of this section. The liability of the facility for civil penalties pursuant to this section shall be incurred immediately upon the citation of the violation and shall not be affected by any subsequent correction of the violation. For the purposes of this section, "serious physical injury" means physical injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes serious disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part of the body.

11. The department shall not impose a fine for self-reporting class II and class III violations so long as each violation is corrected within a specified period of time as determined by the department and there is no reoccurrence of the particular violation for twelve months following the date of the first self-reporting.

12. If a facility is sold or changes its operator, any civil penalty assessed shall not be sold, transferred, or otherwise assigned to the successor operator but shall remain the sole liability of the operator at the time of the violation.

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(L. 1979 S.B. 328, et al. § 22, A.L. 1989 S.B. 203 & 270, A.L. 1996 H.B. 781, A.L. 1999 H.B. 316, et al. merged with S.B. 326, A.L. 2003 S.B. 556 & 311)

*Word "an" appears in original rolls.