The Department may investigate the actions or qualifications of any applicant or of any person or persons holding or claiming to hold a license or certificate of registration. The Department shall, before refusing to issue or renew a license or to discipline a licensee under Section 95, at least 30 days before the date set for the hearing, (i) notify the accused in writing of any charges made and the time and place for a hearing of the charges, (ii) direct him or her to file his or her written answer to the charges under oath within 20 days after the service of the notice, and (iii) inform the applicant or licensee that failure to file an answer shall result in a default judgment being entered against the applicant or licensee. At the time and place fixed in the notice, the Department shall proceed to hear the charges and the parties or their counsel shall be accorded ample opportunity to present any pertinent statements, testimony, evidence, and arguments. The Department may continue the hearing from time to time. In case the person, after receiving the notice, fails to file an answer, his or her license, may, in the discretion of the Department, be revoked, suspended, or placed on probationary status or the Department may take whatever disciplinary action considered proper, including limiting the scope, nature, or extent of the person’s practice or the imposition of a fine, without a hearing, if the act or acts charged constitute sufficient grounds for that action under the Act. The written notice and any notice in the subsequent proceeding may be served by mail to the licensee’s address of record or by email to the licensee’s email address of record.