The Department may investigate the actions of any applicant or of any person or persons rendering or offering to render massage therapy services or any person holding or claiming to hold a license as a massage therapist. The Department shall, before refusing to issue or renew a license or to discipline a licensee under Section 45, at least 30 days prior to the date set for the hearing, (i) notify the accused in writing of the charges made and the time and place for the hearing on the charges, (ii) direct him or her to file a written answer with the Department under oath within 20 days after the service of the notice, and (iii) inform the applicant or licensee that failure to file an answer will 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 of 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, placed on probationary status, or the Department may take whatever disciplinary actions 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 may be served by personal delivery, by certified mail to the accused’s address of record, or by email to the accused’s email address of record.