SB0544 Engrossed LRB095 08190 DRJ 28357 b

1     AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 5. The Language Assistance Services Act is amended
5 by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
6     (210 ILCS 87/15)
7     Sec. 15. Language assistance services.
8     (a) To insure access to health care information and
9 services for limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking
10 residents and deaf residents, a health facility must do one or
11 more of the following:
12         (1) Review existing policies regarding interpreters
13     for patients with limited English proficiency and for
14     patients who are deaf, including the availability of staff
15     to act as interpreters.
16         (1) (2) Adopt and review annually a policy for
17     providing language assistance services to patients with
18     language or communication barriers. The policy shall
19     include procedures for providing, to the extent possible as
20     determined by the facility, the use of an interpreter
21     whenever a language or communication barrier exists,
22     except where the patient, after being informed of the
23     availability of the interpreter service, chooses to use a

 

 

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1     family member or friend who volunteers to interpret. The
2     procedures shall be designed to maximize efficient use of
3     interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters
4     to patients. The procedures shall insure, to the extent
5     possible as determined by the facility, that interpreters
6     are available, either on the premises or accessible by
7     telephone, 24 hours a day. The facility shall annually
8     transmit to the Department of Public Health a copy of the
9     updated policy and shall include a description of the
10     facility's efforts to insure adequate and speedy
11     communication between patients with language or
12     communication barriers and staff.
13         (2) (3) Develop, and post in conspicuous locations,
14     notices that advise patients and their families of the
15     availability of interpreters, the procedure for obtaining
16     an interpreter, and the telephone numbers to call for
17     filing complaints concerning interpreter service problems,
18     including, but not limited to, a TTY number for persons who
19     are deaf or hard of hearing T.D.D. number for the hearing
20     impaired. The notices shall be posted, at a minimum, in the
21     emergency room, the admitting area, the facility entrance,
22     and the outpatient area. Notices shall inform patients that
23     interpreter services are available on request, shall list
24     the languages most commonly encountered at the facility for
25     which interpreter services are available, and shall
26     instruct patients to direct complaints regarding

 

 

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1     interpreter services to the Department of Public Health,
2     including the telephone numbers to call for that purpose.
3         (4) Identify and record a patient's primary language
4     and dialect on one or more of the following: a patient
5     medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or
6     nursing card.
7         (5) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of
8     interpreters who have been identified as proficient in sign
9     language and in the languages of the population of the
10     geographical area served by the facility who have the
11     ability to translate the names of body parts, injuries, and
12     symptoms.
13         (3) (6) Notify the facility's employees of the language
14     services available at the facility and train them on how to
15     make those language services available to patients
16     facility's commitment to provide interpreters to all
17     patients who request them.
18     (b) In addition, a health facility may do one or more of
19 the following:
20         (1) Identify and record a patient's primary language
21     and dialect on one or more of the following: a patient
22     medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or
23     nursing card.
24         (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of
25     interpreters who have been identified as proficient in sign
26     language according to the Interpreters for the Deaf Act and

 

 

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1     a list of the languages of the population of the
2     geographical area served by the facility.
3         (3) (7) Review all standardized written forms,
4     waivers, documents, and informational materials available
5     to patients on admission to determine which to translate
6     into languages other than English.
7         (4) (8) Consider providing its nonbilingual staff with
8     standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in routine
9     communications with patients who have language or
10     communication barriers.
11         (5) (9) Develop community liaison groups to enable the
12     facility and the limited-English-speaking,
13     non-English-speaking, and deaf communities to insure the
14     adequacy of the interpreter services.
15 (Source: P.A. 93-564, eff. 1-1-04.)
 
16     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
17 becoming law.