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    AN ACT concerning regulation.

 
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    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
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represented in the General Assembly:

 
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    Section 5. The Language Assistance Services Act is amended  
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by changing Section 15 as follows:
 



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    (210 ILCS 87/15)



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    Sec. 15. Language assistance services. 
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    (a) To insure access to
health care information and 
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services for
limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking 
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residents and deaf residents,
a health facility must do one or 
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more of the following:

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        (1) Review existing policies regarding interpreters 
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    for patients with
limited English proficiency and for 
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    patients who are deaf, including the
availability of staff 
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    to act as interpreters.

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        (1)
(2) Adopt and review annually a policy for 
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    providing language assistance
services to patients with 
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    language or communication barriers.  The policy shall

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    include procedures for providing, to the extent possible as 
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    determined by the
facility, the use of an interpreter 
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    whenever a language or communication
barrier
exists, 
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    except where the patient, after being informed of the 
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    availability of
the interpreter service, chooses to use a 
 


 






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    family member or friend who
volunteers to interpret.  The 
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    procedures shall be designed to maximize
efficient use of 
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    interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters 
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    to
patients.  The procedures shall insure, to the extent 
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    possible as determined
by the facility, that
interpreters 
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    are available, either on the premises or accessible by 
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    telephone,
24 hours a day.  The facility shall annually 
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    transmit to the Department of
Public Health a
copy of the 
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    updated policy and shall include a description of the 
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    facility's
efforts to
insure adequate and speedy 
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    communication between patients with language or

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    communication barriers and staff.

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        (2)
(3) Develop, and post in conspicuous locations, 
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    notices that advise patients
and their families of the 
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    availability of interpreters, the procedure for
obtaining 
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    an interpreter, and the telephone numbers to call for 
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    filing
complaints concerning interpreter service problems, 
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    including, but not limited
to, a
TTY number for persons who 
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    are deaf or hard of hearing
T.D.D. number for the hearing 
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    impaired.  The notices shall be posted, at a
minimum, in the 
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    emergency room, the admitting area, the facility entrance, 
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    and
the
outpatient area.  Notices shall inform patients that 
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    interpreter services are
available on request, shall list 
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    the languages most commonly encountered at the facility for 
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    which interpreter services
are available, and shall 
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    instruct patients to direct complaints regarding

 


 






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    interpreter services to the Department of Public Health, 
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    including the
telephone
numbers to call for that purpose.

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        (4) Identify and record a patient's primary language 
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    and dialect on one or
more of the following: a patient 
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    medical chart, hospital bracelet,
bedside notice, or 
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    nursing card.

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        (5) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of 
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    interpreters who have
been identified as proficient in sign 
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    language and in the languages of the
population of the 
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    geographical area served by the facility who have the

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    ability to translate
the names of body parts, injuries, and 
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    symptoms.

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        (3)
(6) Notify the facility's employees of the language 
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    services available at the facility and train them on how to 
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    make those language services available to patients

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    facility's commitment to provide
interpreters to
all 
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    patients who request them.

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    (b) In addition, a health facility may do one or more of 
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the following:
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        (1) Identify and record a patient's primary language 
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    and dialect on one or more of the following: a patient 
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    medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or 
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    nursing card.
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        (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of 
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    interpreters who have been identified as proficient in sign 
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    language according to the Interpreters for the Deaf Act and 
 


 






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    a list of the languages of the population of the 
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    geographical area served by the facility.

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        (3)
(7) Review all standardized written forms, 
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    waivers, documents, and
informational materials available 
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    to patients on admission to determine which
to translate 
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    into languages other than English.

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        (4)
(8) Consider providing its nonbilingual staff with 
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    standardized picture and
phrase sheets for use in routine 
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    communications with patients who have language
or 
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    communication barriers.

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        (5)
(9) Develop community liaison groups to enable the 
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    facility and the
limited-English-speaking, 
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    non-English-speaking, and deaf communities to insure
the 
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    adequacy of the
interpreter services.

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(Source: P.A. 93-564, eff. 1-1-04.)

 

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    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
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becoming law.