Illinois passes law allowing family video surveillance, monitoring in resident rooms

Soon, skilled nursing residents and families in Illinois will be able to use their own recording devices and cameras to monitor what happens in their own resident rooms. A new law passed today will allow residents or their families to install electronic monitoring devices in resident rooms at certain long-term care facilities, including licensed nursing homes and facilities licensed to care for the developmentally disabled.

The Authorized Electronic Monitoring in Long-Term Care Facilities Act, also known as Senate Bill HB2462, will take effect Jan. 1, 2016. Illinois is the fifth state in the nation to allow family-installed electronic monitoring devices in nursing homes.

Allowable devices include video surveillance cameras and audio recording devices, provided they do not capture still photographs and provided the recording activities are known and consented to by the room’s residents. The facility’s staff also must be aware that recording activities are taking place in the room and the room must be signposted with a notice that reads, “This room is electronically monitored,” the law states.

Families or residents who wish to install surveillance equipment must do so at their own expense. The recordings, however, can be requested by the facility during any investigations of criminal, civil or administrative misconduct.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.