135C.16 - INSPECTIONS.
135C.16 INSPECTIONS.
1. In addition to the inspections required by sections 135C.9 and
135C.38, the department shall make or cause to be made such further
unannounced inspections as it deems necessary to adequately enforce
this chapter. At least one general unannounced inspection shall be
conducted for each health care facility within a thirty-month period.
The inspector shall show identification to the person in charge of
the facility and state that an inspection is to be made before
beginning the inspection. An employee of the department who gives
unauthorized advance notice of an inspection made or planned to be
made under this subsection or section 135C.38 shall be disciplined as
determined by the director, except that if the employee is employed
pursuant to the merit system provisions of chapter 8A, subchapter IV,
the discipline shall not exceed the discipline authorized pursuant to
that subchapter.
2. a. The department shall prescribe by rule that any
licensee or applicant for license desiring to make specific types of
physical or functional alterations or additions to its facility or to
construct new facilities shall, before commencing the alteration or
additions or new construction, submit plans and specifications to the
department for preliminary inspection and approval or recommendations
with respect to compliance with the department's rules and standards.
b. When the plans and specifications have been properly
approved by the department or other appropriate state agency, for a
period of at least five years from completion of the construction or
alteration, the facility or the portion of the facility constructed
or altered in accord with the plans and specifications shall not be
considered deficient or ineligible for licensing by reason of failure
to meet any rule or standard established subsequent to approval of
the plans and specifications.
c. When construction or alteration of a facility or portion
of a facility has been completed in accord with plans and
specifications submitted as required by this subsection and properly
approved by the department or other appropriate state agency, and it
is discovered that the facility or portion of a facility is not in
compliance with a requirement of this chapter or of the rules or
standards adopted pursuant to it and in effect at the time the plans
and specifications were submitted, and the deficiency was apparent
from the plans and specifications submitted but was not noted or
objected to by the department or other appropriate state agency, the
department or agency responsible for the oversight shall either waive
the requirement or reimburse the licensee or applicant for any costs
which are necessary to bring the new or reconstructed facility or
portion of a facility into compliance with the requirement and which
the licensee or applicant would not have incurred if the facility or
portion of the facility had been constructed in compliance with the
requirements of this chapter or of the rules or standards adopted
pursuant to it and in effect at the time the plans and specifications
were submitted.
d. If within two years from the completion of the
construction or alteration of the facility or portion thereof, a
department or agency of the state orders that the new or
reconstructed facility or portion thereof be brought into compliance
with the requirements of this chapter or the rules or standards
adopted pursuant to it and in effect at the time the plans and
specifications were submitted, the state shall have a claim for
damages to the extent of any reimbursement paid to the licensee or
applicant against any person who designed the facility or portion
thereof for negligence in the preparation of the plans and
specifications therefor, subject to all defenses based upon the
negligence of the state in reviewing and approving those plans and
specifications, but not thereafter.
e. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply where
the deficiency presents a clear and present danger to the safety of
the residents of the facility.
3. An inspector of the department may enter any licensed health
care facility without a warrant, and may examine all records
pertaining to the care provided residents of the facility. An
inspector of the department may contact or interview any resident,
employee, or any other person who might have knowledge about the
operation of a health care facility. An inspector of the department
of human services shall have the same right with respect to any
facility where one or more residents are cared for entirely or
partially at public expense, and an investigator of the designated
protection and advocacy agency shall have the same right with respect
to any facility where one or more residents have developmental
disabilities or mental illnesses, and the state fire marshal or a
deputy appointed pursuant to section 135C.9, subsection 1, paragraph
"b" shall have the same right of entry into any facility and the
right to inspect any records pertinent to fire safety practices and
conditions within that facility. If any such inspector has probable
cause to believe that any institution, building, or agency not
licensed as a health care facility is in fact a health care facility
as defined by this chapter, and upon producing identification that
the individual is an inspector is denied entry thereto for the
purpose of making an inspection, the inspector may, with the
assistance of the county attorney of the county in which the
purported health care facility is located, apply to the district
court for an order requiring the owner or occupant to permit entry
and inspection of the premises to determine whether there have been
any violations of this chapter. Section History: Early Form
[C58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 135C.16; 82 Acts, ch 1065,
§ 1] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 96, § 157, 159; 84 Acts, ch 1227, § 1; 87 Acts, ch
234, § 427; 90 Acts, ch 1204, § 15; 92 Acts, ch 1242, § 26; 2000
Acts, ch 1180, §1; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §187; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §47