71-453.

License; disciplinary actions; informal conference; procedure.

(1) The director shall assign a representative of the department, other than the individual who did the inspection upon which the notice is based, or a representative peer review organization to hold an informal conference with the applicant or licensee within thirty days after receipt of a request made under subdivision (1) or (2) of section 71-452. Within twenty working days after the conclusion of the conference, the representative or representative peer review organization shall report in writing to the department its conclusion regarding whether to affirm, modify, or dismiss the notice and the specific reasons for the conclusion and shall provide a copy of the report to the director and the applicant or licensee.

(2) Within ten working days after receiving a report under subsection (1) of this section, the department shall consider such report and affirm, modify, or dismiss the notice and shall state the specific reasons for such decision, including, if applicable, the specific reasons for not adopting the conclusion of the representative or representative peer review organization as contained in such report. The department shall provide the applicant or licensee with a copy of such decision by certified mail to the last address shown in the records of the department. If the applicant or licensee desires to contest an affirmed or modified notice, the applicant or licensee shall notify the director in writing within five working days after receiving such decision that the applicant or licensee requests a hearing.

(3) If an applicant or a licensee successfully demonstrates during an informal conference or a hearing that the deficiencies should not have been cited in the notice, (a) the deficiencies shall be removed from the notice and the deficiency statement and (b) any sanction imposed solely as a result of those cited deficiencies shall be rescinded.