Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/738

 124 STAT. 712 PUBLIC LAW 111–148—MAR. 23, 2010 (or a person acting on the resident’s behalf) in filing a complaint with a State survey and certification agency and a State long- term care ombudsman program with respect to a facility. ‘‘(2) COMPLAINT FORMS AND RESOLUTION PROCESSES.— ‘‘(A) COMPLAINT FORMS.—The State must make the standardized complaint form developed under paragraph (1) available upon request to— ‘‘(i) a resident of a facility; and ‘‘(ii) any person acting on the resident’s behalf. ‘‘(B) COMPLAINT RESOLUTION PROCESS.—The State must establish a complaint resolution process in order to ensure that the legal representative of a resident of a facility or other responsible party is not denied access to such resident or otherwise retaliated against if they have com- plained about the quality of care provided by the facility or other issues relating to the facility. Such complaint resolution process shall include— ‘‘(i) procedures to assure accurate tracking of com- plaints received, including notification to the complain- ant that a complaint has been received; ‘‘(ii) procedures to determine the likely severity of a complaint and for the investigation of the com- plaint; and ‘‘(iii) deadlines for responding to a complaint and for notifying the complainant of the outcome of the investigation. ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing a resident of a facility (or a person acting on the resident’s behalf) from submitting a complaint in a manner or format other than by using the standardized complaint form developed under paragraph (1) (including submitting a complaint orally).’’. (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this section shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act. SEC. 6106. ENSURING STAFFING ACCOUNTABILITY. Section 1128I of the Social Security Act, as added and amended by this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: ‘‘(g) SUBMISSION OF STAFFING INFORMATION BASED ON PAYROLL DATA IN A UNIFORM FORMAT.—Beginning not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and after con- sulting with State long-term care ombudsman programs, consumer advocacy groups, provider stakeholder groups, employees and their representatives, and other parties the Secretary deems appropriate, the Secretary shall require a facility to electronically submit to the Secretary direct care staffing information (including information with respect to agency and contract staff) based on payroll and other verifiable and auditable data in a uniform format (according to specifications established by the Secretary in consultation with such programs, groups, and parties). Such specifications shall require that the information submitted under the preceding sen- tence— ‘‘(1) specify the category of work a certified employee per- forms (such as whether the employee is a registered nurse, Deadline. 42 USC 1320a–7j. 42 USC 1320a–7j note.