Illinois Appellate Court Confirms: Nursing Facilities’ Have Right to Seek Mandatory Civil Monetary Penalty Offsets

In a significant decision for the long-term care industry, Gutnicki LLP proudly represented the plaintiff nursing facilities before the Illinois Appellate Court in Macomb Post Acute Care Center, LLC et al. v. Illinois Department of Public Health. The Appellate Court held that the Nursing Home Care Act requires the Illinois Department of Public Health to offset the state civil monetary penalty by the corresponding federal civil monetary penalty imposed on a licensed nursing home facility.

 While the ultimate merits remain to be decided, the ruling is an important step forward and preserves the nursing facilities' ability to pursue statutory offsets for equivalent state and federal civil monetary penalties.