HB0587eng 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 


 
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1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by
5changing Section 9.6 as follows:
 
6    (210 ILCS 85/9.6)
7    Sec. 9.6. Patient protection from abuse.
8    (a) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or
9a hospital affiliate, or a member of a hospital's its medical
10staff, may abuse a patient in the hospital or in a facility
11operated by a hospital affiliate.
12    (b) Any hospital administrator, agent, employee, or
13medical staff member, or an administrator, employee, or
14physician employed by a hospital affiliate, who has reasonable
15cause to believe that any patient with whom he or she has
16direct contact has been subjected to abuse in the hospital or
17hospital affiliate shall promptly report or cause a report to
18be made to a designated hospital administrator responsible for
19providing such reports to the Department as required by this
20Section.
21    (c) Retaliation against a person who lawfully and in good
22faith makes a report under this Section is prohibited.
23    (d) Upon receiving a report under subsection (b) of this

 

 

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1Section, the hospital or hospital affiliate shall submit the
2report to the Department within 24 hours of obtaining such
3report. In the event that the hospital receives multiple
4reports involving a single alleged instance of abuse, the
5hospital shall submit one report to the Department.
6    (e) Upon receiving a report under this Section, the
7hospital or hospital affiliate shall promptly conduct an
8internal review to ensure the alleged victim's safety.
9Measures to protect the alleged victim shall be taken as
10deemed necessary by the hospital's administrator and may
11include, but are not limited to, removing suspected violators
12from further patient contact during the hospital's or hospital
13affiliate's internal review. If the alleged victim lacks
14decision-making capacity under the Health Care Surrogate Act
15and no health care surrogate is available, the hospital or
16hospital affiliate may contact the Illinois Guardianship and
17Advocacy Commission to determine the need for a temporary
18guardian of that person.
19    (f) All internal hospital and hospital affiliate reviews
20shall be conducted by a designated hospital employee or agent
21who is qualified to detect abuse and is not involved in the
22alleged victim's treatment. All internal review findings must
23be documented and filed according to hospital or hospital
24affiliate procedures and shall be made available to the
25Department upon request.
26    (g) Any other person may make a report of patient abuse to

 

 

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1the Department if that person has reasonable cause to believe
2that a patient has been abused in the hospital or hospital
3affiliate.
4    (h) The report required under this Section shall include:
5the name of the patient; the name and address of the hospital
6or hospital affiliate treating the patient; the age of the
7patient; the nature of the patient's condition, including any
8evidence of previous injuries or disabilities; and any other
9information that the reporter believes might be helpful in
10establishing the cause of the reported abuse and the identity
11of the person believed to have caused the abuse.
12    (i) Except for willful or wanton misconduct, any
13individual, person, institution, or agency participating in
14good faith in the making of a report under this Section, or in
15the investigation of such a report or in making a disclosure of
16information concerning reports of abuse under this Section,
17shall have immunity from any liability, whether civil,
18professional, or criminal, that otherwise might result by
19reason of such actions. For the purpose of any proceedings,
20whether civil, professional, or criminal, the good faith of
21any persons required to report cases of suspected abuse under
22this Section or who disclose information concerning reports of
23abuse in compliance with this Section, shall be presumed.
24    (j) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or
25hospital affiliate shall adopt or employ practices or
26procedures designed to discourage good faith reporting of

 

 

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1patient abuse under this Section.
2    (k) Every hospital and hospital affiliate shall ensure
3that all new and existing employees are trained in the
4detection and reporting of abuse of patients and retrained at
5least every 2 years thereafter.
6    (l) The Department shall investigate each report of
7patient abuse made under this Section according to the
8procedures of the Department, except that a report of abuse
9which indicates that a patient's life or safety is in imminent
10danger shall be investigated within 24 hours of such report.
11Under no circumstances may a hospital's or hospital
12affiliate's internal review of an allegation of abuse replace
13an investigation of the allegation by the Department.
14    (m) The Department shall keep a continuing record of all
15reports made pursuant to this Section, including indications
16of the final determination of any investigation and the final
17disposition of all reports. The Department shall inform the
18investigated hospital or hospital affiliate and any other
19person making a report under subsection (g) of its final
20determination or disposition in writing.
21    (n) The Department shall not disclose to the public any
22information regarding any reports and investigations under
23this Section unless and until the report of abuse is
24substantiated following a full and proper investigation.
25    (o) All patient identifiable information in any report or
26investigation under this Section shall be confidential and

 

 

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1shall not be disclosed except as authorized by this Act or
2other applicable law.
3    (p) Nothing in this Section relieves a hospital or
4hospital affiliate administrator, employee, agent, or medical
5staff member from contacting appropriate law enforcement
6authorities as required by law.
7    (q) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to mean
8that a patient is a victim of abuse because of health care
9services provided or not provided by health care
10professionals.
11    (r) Nothing in this Section shall require a hospital or
12hospital affiliate, including its employees, agents, and
13medical staff members, to provide any services to a patient in
14contravention of his or her stated or implied objection
15thereto upon grounds that such services conflict with his or
16her religious beliefs or practices, nor shall such a patient
17be considered abused under this Section for the exercise of
18such beliefs or practices.
19    (s) The Department's implementation of this Section is
20subject to appropriations to the Department for that purpose.
21    (t) As used in this Section, the following terms have the
22following meanings:
23    "Abuse" means any physical or mental injury or sexual
24abuse intentionally inflicted by a hospital or hospital
25affiliate employee, agent, or medical staff member on a
26patient of the hospital or hospital affiliate and does not

 

 

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1include any hospital or hospital affiliate, medical, health
2care, or other personal care services done in good faith in the
3interest of the patient according to established medical and
4clinical standards of care.
5    "Hospital affiliate" has the meaning given to that term in
6Section 10.8.
7    "Mental injury" means intentionally caused emotional
8distress in a patient from words or gestures that would be
9considered by a reasonable person to be humiliating,
10harassing, or threatening and which causes observable and
11substantial impairment.
12    "Sexual abuse" means any intentional act of sexual contact
13or sexual penetration of a patient in the hospital.
14    "Substantiated", with respect to a report of abuse, means
15that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that abuse
16occurred.
17(Source: P.A. 96-692, eff. 1-1-10.)