(210 ILCS 60/3) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 6103)

Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Bereavement" means the period of time during which the hospice patient's family experiences and adjusts to the death of the hospice patient.

(a-5) "Bereavement services" means counseling services provided to an individual's family after the individual's death.

(a-10) "Attending physician" means a physician who:

(1) is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy; and

(2) is identified by an individual, at the time the individual elects to receive hospice care, as having the most significant role in the determination and delivery of the individual's medical care.

(b) "Department" means the Illinois Department of Public Health.

(c) "Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

(d) "Hospice care" means a program of palliative care that provides for the physical, emotional, and spiritual care needs of a terminally ill patient and his or her family. The goal of such care is to achieve the highest quality of life as defined by the patient and his or her family through the relief of suffering and control of symptoms.

(e) "Hospice care team" means an interdisciplinary group or groups composed of individuals who provide or supervise the care and services offered by the hospice.

(f) "Hospice patient" means a terminally ill person receiving hospice services.

(g) "Hospice patient's family" means a hospice patient's immediate family consisting of a spouse, sibling, child, parent and those individuals designated as such by the patient for the purposes of this Act.

(g-1) "Hospice residence" means a separately licensed home, apartment building, or similar building providing living quarters:

(1) that is owned or operated by a person licensed to operate as a comprehensive hospice; and

(2) at which hospice services are provided to facility residents.

A building that is licensed under the Hospital Licensing Act, the Nursing Home Care Act, the Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013, the ID/DD Community Care Act, or the MC/DD Act is not a hospice residence.

(h) "Hospice services" means a range of professional and other supportive services provided to a hospice patient and his or her family. These services may include, but are not limited to, physician services, nursing services, medical social work services, spiritual counseling services, bereavement services, and volunteer services.

(h-5) "Hospice program" means a licensed public agency or private organization, or a subdivision of either of those, that is primarily engaged in providing care to terminally ill individuals through a program of home care or inpatient care, or both home care and inpatient care, utilizing a medically directed interdisciplinary hospice care team of professionals or volunteers, or both professionals and volunteers. A hospice program may be licensed as a comprehensive hospice program or a volunteer hospice program.

(h-10) "Comprehensive hospice" means a program that provides hospice services and meets the minimum standards for certification under the Medicare program set forth in the Conditions of Participation in 42 CFR Part 418 but is not required to be Medicare-certified.

(i) "Palliative care" means the management of pain and other distressing symptoms that incorporates medical, nursing, psychosocial, and spiritual care according to the needs, values, beliefs, and culture or cultures of the patient and his or her family. The evaluation and treatment is patient-centered, with a focus on the central role of the family unit in decision-making.

(j) "Hospice service plan" means a plan detailing the specific hospice services offered by a comprehensive or volunteer hospice program, and the administrative and direct care personnel responsible for those services. The plan shall include but not be limited to:

(1) Identification of the person or persons administratively responsible for the program.

(2) The estimated average monthly patient census.

(3) The proposed geographic area the hospice will serve.

(4) A listing of those hospice services provided directly by the hospice, and those hospice services provided indirectly through a contractual agreement.

(5) The name and qualifications of those persons or entities under contract to provide indirect hospice services.

(6) The name and qualifications of those persons providing direct hospice services, with the exception of volunteers.

(7) A description of how the hospice plans to utilize volunteers in the provision of hospice services.

(8) A description of the program's record keeping system.

(k) "Terminally ill" means a medical prognosis by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches that a patient has an anticipated life expectancy of one year or less.

(l) "Volunteer" means a person who offers his or her services to a hospice without compensation. Reimbursement for a volunteer's expenses in providing hospice service shall not be considered compensation.

(l-5) "Employee" means a paid or unpaid member of the staff of a hospice program, or, if the hospice program is a subdivision of an agency or organization, of the agency or organization, who is appropriately trained and assigned to the hospice program. "Employee" also means a volunteer whose duties are prescribed by the hospice program and whose performance of those duties is supervised by the hospice program.

(l-10) "Representative" means an individual who has been authorized under State law to terminate an individual's medical care or to elect or revoke the election of hospice care on behalf of a terminally ill individual who is mentally or physically incapacitated.

(m) "Volunteer hospice" means a program which provides hospice services to patients regardless of their ability to pay, with emphasis on the utilization of volunteers to provide services, under the administration of a not-for-profit agency. This definition does not prohibit the employment of staff.

(Source: P.A. 98-104, eff. 7-22-13; 99-180, eff. 7-29-15.)