Section 2. Purpose and intent.
The purpose of this act is to establish an informal review process for long-term care nursing facilities to dispute Department of Health survey findings using an independent agent. This informal review process is intended to ensure that a statement of deficiencies, as maintained in Federal and State data systems, accurately identifies a long-term care nursing facility's actual state of compliance with applicable regulations by providing nursing facilities with the opportunity to redress grievances arising during the survey process prior to the entry of the survey results in the Federal data system and without need to engage in formal litigation.