Illinois Statutes Chapter 225. Professions,Occupations and Business Operations § 510/14. Minimum Standards

(a) The Department, by rule, shall establish minimum standards for the operation of nurse agencies. Those standards shall include, but are not limited to:

(b) Each nurse agency shall have a nurse serving as a manager or supervisor of all nurses and certified nurses aides.

(c) Each nurse agency shall ensure that its employees meet the minimum licensing, training, continuing education, and orientation standards for which those employees are licensed or certified.

(d) A nurse agency shall not employ, assign, or refer for use in an Illinois health care facility a nurse or certified nurse aide unless certified or licensed under applicable provisions of State and federal law or regulations. Each certified nurse aide shall comply with all pertinent regulations of the Illinois Department of Public Health relating to the health and other qualifications of personnel employed in health care facilities.

(e) The Department may adopt rules to monitor the usage of nurse agency services to determine their impact.

(f) Nurse agencies are prohibited from recruiting potential employees on the premises of a health care facility or requiring, as a condition of employment, assignment, or referral, that their employees recruit new employees for the nurse agency from among the permanent employees of the health care facility to which the nurse agency employees have been employed, assigned, or referred, and the health care facility to which such employees are employed, assigned, or referred is prohibited from requiring, as a condition of employment, that their employees recruit new employees from these nurse agency employees. Violation of this provision is a business offense.

(g) Nurse agencies are prohibited from entering into covenants not to compete with nurses and certified nurse aides. A covenant not to compete entered into on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly between a nurse agency and a nurse or certified nurse aide is illegal and void. The nursing agency shall not, in any contract with any employee or health care facility, require the payment of liquidated damages, conversion fees, employment fees, buy-out fees, placement fees, or other compensation if the employee is hired as a permanent employee of a health care facility.

(h) A nurse agency shall submit a report quarterly to the Department for each health care entity with whom the agency contracts that includes all of the following by provider type and county in which the work was performed:

The Department shall publish by county in which the work was performed the average amount charged to the health care facilities by nurse agencies for each individual worker category and the average amount paid by the agency to each individual worker category.

(i) The Department shall publish on its website the reports yearly by county.

(j) The Department of Labor shall compel production of the maintained records, as required under this Section, by the nurse agencies.