a. The commissioner shall contract with appropriate agencies for the performance of preadmission screening or perform the screening directly through the division. Preadmission screening shall be made available, upon request and for a reasonable fee to be established by the commissioner, to a private pay individual, whether or not the individual expects to become eligible for the Medicaid program.

b. The commissioner shall develop procedures for monitoring the preadmission screening program, for which purpose the commissioner may establish an independent review process, to ensure that screening standards are being met by the division or by those agencies which are under contract to perform preadmission screening pursuant to subsection a. of this section.

L. 1988, c. 97, s. 5.