Full Text of SB0544 95th General Assembly
SB0544eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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SB0544 Engrossed |
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LRB095 08190 DRJ 28357 b |
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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 | 5 |
| by changing Section 15 as follows:
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| (210 ILCS 87/15)
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| 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:
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| (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.
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| (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
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| 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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LRB095 08190 DRJ 28357 b |
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| 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
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| communication barriers and staff.
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| (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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LRB095 08190 DRJ 28357 b |
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| interpreter services to the Department of Public Health, | 2 |
| including the
telephone
numbers to call for that purpose.
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| (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.
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| (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
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| ability to translate
the names of body parts, injuries, and | 12 |
| symptoms.
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| (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
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| facility's commitment to provide
interpreters to
all | 17 |
| patients who request them .
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| (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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| a list of the languages of the population of the | 2 |
| geographical area served by the facility.
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| (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.
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| (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.
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| (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.
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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 | 17 |
| becoming law.
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