SB0545 Engrossed LRB095 05218 CMK 29876 b

1     AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 5. The Department of Public Health Powers and
5 Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is
6 amended by adding Section 216 as follows:
 
7     (20 ILCS 2310/216 new)
8     Sec. 216. Culturally Competent Healthcare Demonstration
9 Program.
10     (a) Research demonstrates that racial and ethnic
11 minorities generally receive health care that is of a lesser
12 quality than the majority population and have poorer health
13 outcomes on a number of measures. The 2007 State Health
14 Improvement Plan calls for increased cultural competence in
15 Illinois health care settings, based on national standards that
16 indicate cultural competence is an important aspect of the
17 quality of health care delivered to racial, ethnic, religious,
18 and sexual minorities. Based on the research and national
19 standards, the General Assembly finds that increasing cultural
20 competence among health care providers will improve the quality
21 of health care delivered to minorities in Illinois.
22     (b) Subject to appropriation for this purpose, the
23 Department shall establish the Culturally Competent Health

 

 

SB0545 Engrossed - 2 - LRB095 05218 CMK 29876 b

1 Care Demonstration Program. For purposes of this Section,
2 "culturally competent health care" means the ability of health
3 care providers to understand and respond to the cultural and
4 linguistic needs brought by patients to the health care
5 encounter. The Program shall establish models that reflect best
6 practices in culturally competent health care and that expand
7 the delivery of culturally competent health care in Illinois.
8     (c) The Program shall consist of (i) demonstration grants
9 awarded by the Department to public or private health care
10 entities geographically distributed around the State; (ii) an
11 ongoing collaborative learning project among the grantees; and
12 (iii) an evaluation of the effect of the demonstration grants
13 in improving the quality of health care for racial and ethnic
14 minorities. The Department may contract with a vendor with
15 experience in racial and ethnic health disparities and cultural
16 competency to conduct the evaluation and provide support for
17 the collaborative learning project. The vendor shall be a
18 not-for-profit organization that represents a partnership of
19 public, private, and voluntary health organizations that
20 focuses on prevention, development of the public health system,
21 and the reduction of racial and ethnic health disparities, and
22 that engages health disparities stakeholders in its efforts.
 
23     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
24 becoming law.