(20 ILCS 2310/2310-312)

Sec. 2310-312. Multidrug-Resistant Organisms. The Department shall perform the following functions in relation to the prevention and control of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs), including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant (VRE) and certain gram-negative bacilli (GNB), as these terms are referenced by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

(1) Except with regard to hospitals, for which administrative rules shall be adopted in accordance with Section 6.23 of the Hospital Licensing Act and Section 7 of the University of Illinois Hospital Act, the Department shall adopt administrative rules for health care facilities subject to licensure, certification, registration, or other regulation by the Department that may require one or more types of those facilities to (i) perform an annual infection control risk assessment, (ii) develop infection control policies for MDROs that are based on this assessment and incorporate, as appropriate, updated recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the prevention and control of MDROs, and (iii) enforce hand hygiene requirements.

(2) The Department shall:

(A) publicize guidelines for reducing the incidence of MDROs to health care providers, health care facilities, public health departments, prisons, jails, and the general public; and

(B) provide periodic reports and updates to public officials, health professionals, and the general public statewide regarding new developments or procedures concerning prevention and management of infections due to MDROs.

(3) The Department shall publish a yearly report regarding MRSA and Clostridium difficile infections based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network surveillance system or its successor. The Department is authorized to require hospitals, based on guidelines developed by the National Center for Health Statistics, after October 1, 2007, to submit data to the Department that is coded as "present on admission" and "occurred during the stay".

(4) Reporting to the Department under the Hospital Report Card Act shall include organisms, including but not limited to MRSA, that are responsible for central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia in designated hospital units.

(5) The Department shall implement surveillance for designated cases of community associated MRSA infections for a period of at least 3 years, beginning on or before January 1, 2008.

(Source: P.A. 97-49, eff. 1-1-12.)