HB1674 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 05217 CMK 25292 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
HB1674

Introduced 2/22/2007, by Rep. William Davis

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 2310/216 new

Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Creates the Culturally Competent Healthcare Demonstration Program. Defines "culturally competent health care". Provides that the Program shall establish models that reflect best practices in culturally competent health care and that expand the delivery of culturally competent health care in Illinois. Provides guidelines for the administration of the Program. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning State government.

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

Section 5. The Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is amended by adding Section 216 as follows:

(20 ILCS 2310/216 new)

Sec. 216. Culturally Competent Healthcare Demonstration Program.

(a) Research demonstrates that racial and ethnic minorities generally receive health care that is of a lesser quality than the majority population and have poorer health outcomes on a number of measures. The 2006 State Health Improvement Plan calls for increased cultural competence in Illinois health care settings, based on national standards that indicate cultural competence is an important aspect of the quality of health care delivered to racial and ethnic minorities. Based on the research and national standards, the General Assembly finds that increasing cultural competence among health care providers will improve the quality of health care delivered to racial and ethnic minorities in Illinois.

(b) Subject to appropriation for this purpose, the Department shall establish the Culturally Competent Health Care Demonstration Program. For purposes of this Section, "culturally competent health care" means the ability of health care providers to understand and respond to the cultural and linguistic needs brought by patients to the health care encounter. The Program shall establish models that reflect best practices in culturally competent health care and that expand the delivery of culturally competent health care in Illinois. Culturally competent practices are especially designed to address the needs of racial, ethnic, and linguistic population groups that experience unequal access to health services and designed to contribute to reducing disparities in health outcomes experienced by racial and ethnic minorities.

(c) The Program shall consist of (i) demonstration grants awarded by the Department to public or private health care entities geographically distributed around the State; (ii) an ongoing collaborative learning project among the grantees; and (iii) an evaluation of the effect of the demonstration grants in improving the quality of health care for racial and ethnic minorities. The Department shall contract with a vendor with experience in racial and ethnic health disparities and cultural competency to conduct the evaluation and provide support for the collaborative learning project. The vendor shall be a non-for-profit organization that represents a partnership of public, private, and voluntary health organizations that focuses on prevention, development of the public health system, and reduction of racial and ethnic health disparities, and that engages health disparities stakeholders in its efforts.

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