Sen. William Delgado

Filed: 3/6/2007

 

 


 

 


 
09500SB0544sam001 LRB095 08190 WGH 32728 a

1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 544

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 544 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
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

 

 

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1     providing language assistance services to patients with
2     language or communication barriers. The policy shall
3     include procedures for providing, to the extent possible as
4     determined by the facility, the use of an interpreter
5     whenever a language or communication barrier exists,
6     except where the patient, after being informed of the
7     availability of the interpreter service, chooses to use a
8     family member or friend who volunteers to interpret. The
9     procedures shall be designed to maximize efficient use of
10     interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters
11     to patients. The procedures shall insure, to the extent
12     possible as determined by the facility, that interpreters
13     are available, either on the premises or accessible by
14     telephone, 24 hours a day. The facility shall annually
15     transmit to the Department of Public Health a copy of the
16     updated policy and shall include a description of the
17     facility's efforts to insure adequate and speedy
18     communication between patients with language or
19     communication barriers and staff.
20         (2) (3) Develop, and post in conspicuous locations,
21     notices that advise patients and their families of the
22     availability of interpreters, the procedure for obtaining
23     an interpreter, and the telephone numbers to call for
24     filing complaints concerning interpreter service problems,
25     including, but not limited to, a T.D.D. number for the
26     hearing impaired. The notices shall be posted, at a

 

 

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

 

 

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1         (1) Identify and record a patient's primary language
2     and dialect on one or more of the following: a patient
3     medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or
4     nursing card.
5         (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of
6     interpreters who have been identified as proficient in sign
7     language and in the language of the population of the
8     geographical area served by the facility who have the
9     ability to translate the names of body parts, injuries, and
10     symptoms.
11         (3) (7) Review all standardized written forms,
12     waivers, documents, and informational materials available
13     to patients on admission to determine which to translate
14     into languages other than English.
15         (4) (8) Consider providing its nonbilingual staff with
16     standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in routine
17     communications with patients who have language or
18     communication barriers.
19         (5) (9) Develop community liaison groups to enable the
20     facility and the limited-English-speaking,
21     non-English-speaking, and deaf communities to insure the
22     adequacy of the interpreter services.
23 (Source: P.A. 93-564, eff. 1-1-04.)
 
24     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
25 becoming law.".