Section 1125.340  Office of Epidemiology and Health Systems Development

a)         The Office of Epidemiology and Health Systems Development consists of the following components:  the Division of Epidemiology Studies, Division of Facilities Development, Center for Health Statistics, Center for Rural Health, and Division of Health Policy.

b)         The Office of Epidemiology and Health Systems Development coordinates the Illinois Department of Public Health's activities to assess the health needs, disease occurrence, and health status of Illinois residents.  The Office develops and promotes the use of sound and systematic knowledge bases in health program management, evaluation, and policy development.  The Office provides leadership within the Department in translating public health data into useful information.

c)         The Office leads Department policy development and strategic planning functions with other state agencies and organizations from the private and volunteer sectors to define and address health problems.  The Office provides technical assistance to the Governor, General Assembly, other Department offices, local health departments, health care providers, and the general public.  To improve health status, improve public health systems, and reduce costs, the Office conducts or coordinates data collection and interpretation, policy and financial analysis, community health planning, health care facilities planning, and certificate of need review.  The Office also conducts epidemiologic studies to determine the patterns of illness and disease.

d)         The Office produces the State's annual vital statistics report and publishes reports concerning special populations.  As Illinois' agent for the Federal-State Cooperative for Populations Estimates, the Office produces population estimates that are used in defining health indicators and determining need for services and appropriate distribution of resources.  To determine the pattern and characteristics of health behaviors, the Office conducts household surveys and provides technical assistance in interpreting data for planners and local health departments through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey.

e)         The Office developed and maintains the Illinois Health and Hazardous Substance Registry for making decisions on health and public health related to cancer incidence, adverse pregnancy outcomes, occupational diseases, and hazardous substances.

f)         The Office supports the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board in administering the Illinois certificate of need program to reduce unnecessary health care services and costs, in enforcing the Health Care Worker Self-Referral Act [225 ILCS 47] to provide assistance, and in conducting planning activities related to health care facilities. For the certificate of need program, staff personnel review applications for construction of health care facilities, acquisition of major medical equipment, substantial changes in bed capacity, initiation of new services, and elimination of existing services.  The Office then makes recommendations to the Health Facilities Planning Board for approval or denial of the certificate of need.

g)         The following are mandated responsibilities contained in State statutes:

1)         The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act [20 ILCS 3960] that created the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and describes its functions, including certificate of need/permit reviews and facilities planning.

2)         The Illinois Health Statistics Act [410 ILCS 520] modeled on a widely accepted state-level approach that provides for the collection of health data by the Department and provides for confidentiality of this data.

3)         The Life Care Facilities Act [210 ILCS 40) sets forth the requirements for life care contracts that the Department must approve and monitor.

4)         The Illinois Welfare and Rehabilitation Services Planning Act [20 ILCS 10] provides that Civil Administrative Code of Illinois agencies, including the Department of Public Health, develop a Human Services Plan to be presented to the General Assembly on April 1 of every odd numbered year.

5)         The Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances Registry Act [410 ILCS 525] establishes a unified statewide project to collect, compile and correlate information on public health and hazardous substances.

6)         The Civil Administrative Code of Illinois [20 ILCS 2310/2310-365] allows for the general supervision of the interests of the health and lives of the people of the State to require hospitals, laboratories, or other facilities in the State to report each incidence of cancer diagnosed by the hospitals, laboratories, or facilities, along with any other information the Department may require to develop a Health and Hazardous Substances Registry under the Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances Registry Act.

7)         The Lead Poisoning Prevention Act [410 ILCS 45] requires immediate reporting of the existence of any person found or suspected to have a level of lead in the blood in excess of the permissible limits set forth in regulations adopted by the Department.  The names, addresses, laboratory results, date of birth, and other information about the person are maintained in the Adult Blood Lead Registry.

8)         The Developmental Disability Prevention Act [410 ILCS 250] declares that the policy of the State for the prevention of perinatal mortality and conditions leading to developmental disabilities and other handicapping disabilities is a high priority for attention.  The Adverse Pregnancy Outcome Reporting System maintains information regarding perinatal mortality and risk conditions.

9)         The Vital Records Act [410 ILCS 535] charges the Department with the responsibility of collecting and preserving records of births and deaths of Illinois residents and of preparing and publishing reports of vital statistics from these records.

10)         The Alternative Health Care Delivery Act [210 ILCS 3] establishes procedures for investigating alternative methods of delivering health care services to the community.

11)         The Health Care Worker Self-Referral Act [225 ILCS 47] gives the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board the authority to determine if certain investments by one or more health care workers constitutes a conflict of interest.

12)         The Civil Administrative Code of Illinois [20 ILCS 2310/2310-65] authorizes the Department to conduct statewide inventories for existing hospitals, health service facilities, and other facilities.

13)         The Counties Code [55 ILCS 5/Art. 5, Div. 25] establishes the Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Need (IPLAN) compliance requirements for the local health departments.

14)         The Civil Administrative Code of Illinois [20 ILCS 2310/2310-57] authorizes the Department to establish a system for the collection of data related to hospital discharge and inpatient and outpatient surgery performed at hospitals and licensed ambulatory surgical treatment centers.

h)         The Office also administers other regulatory, preventive, and enforcement activities provided by the Department by law.

(Source:  Amended at 26 Ill. Reg. 11204, effective July 9, 2002)