[ Search ] [ Legislation ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
91_HB1458
LRB9102919DJcd
1 AN ACT concerning hospitals, amending named Acts.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act
5 is amended by adding Sections 13.5 through 13.35 as follows:
6 (20 ILCS 3960/13.5 new)
7 Sec. 13.5. Hospital cooperative agreements. The
8 legislature finds that the goals of controlling health care
9 costs and improving the quality of and access to health care
10 services will be significantly enhanced by some cooperative
11 arrangements involving providers or purchasers that would be
12 prohibited by State and federal antitrust laws if undertaken
13 without governmental involvement. The purpose of Sections
14 13.5 through 13.35 is to create an opportunity for the State
15 to review proposed arrangements and to substitute regulation
16 for competition when an arrangement is likely to result in
17 lower costs, or greater access or quality, than would
18 otherwise occur in the competitive marketplace. The
19 legislature intends that approval of relationships be
20 accompanied by appropriate conditions, supervision, and
21 regulation to protect against private abuses of economic
22 power.
23 (20 ILCS 3960/13.10 new)
24 Sec. 13.10. Hospital cooperative agreements; goals.
25 Acting through their boards of directors or boards of
26 trustees, 2 or more hospitals may enter into a cooperative
27 agreement concerning the allocation of health care equipment
28 or health care services among those hospitals. The agreement
29 may not involve price-fixing or predatory pricing and must be
30 designed to achieve one or more of the following goals:
-2- LRB9102919DJcd
1 (1) Reducing health care costs for consumers.
2 (2) Improving access to health care services.
3 (3) Improving the quality of patient care.
4 (20 ILCS 3960/13.15 new)
5 Sec. 13.15. Hospital cooperative agreements; approval.
6 (a) A hospital may not implement a cooperative agreement
7 authorized under Section 13.10 without first obtaining
8 approval from the State Board as provided in this Section.
9 This approval is in addition to any permit or exemption
10 required under any other provision of this Act.
11 (b) Hospitals desiring to implement a cooperative
12 agreement authorized under Section 13.10 must apply to the
13 Director for recommended approval of the agreement.
14 Applications for recommended approval must be in a form
15 prescribed by the Director but must contain at least the
16 following:
17 (1) A copy of the proposed agreement.
18 (2) An implementation plan that states how and when
19 the cooperative action identified in the agreement will
20 meet one or more of the goals specified in Section 13.10.
21 Each application must be accompanied by a fee determined
22 by the Director but in an amount sufficient to cover the cost
23 of processing applications and the cost of periodic reviews
24 of the implementation of cooperative agreements under Section
25 13.20.
26 (c) If the Director determines that one or more of the
27 goals specified in Section 13.10 are likely to be met by
28 implementing the proposed cooperative agreement and that the
29 benefits resulting from the agreement are likely to outweigh
30 the disadvantages attributable to any reduction in
31 competition, the Director shall submit the application to the
32 Attorney General for review. The Attorney General shall
33 review the application and may advise the Director, in
-3- LRB9102919DJcd
1 writing, to recommend approval or denial of the application.
2 If the Attorney General fails to advise the Director within
3 30 days after receiving the application from the Director,
4 the Attorney General shall be deemed to have advised
5 recommending approval of the application. If the Attorney
6 General advises the Director to recommend denial of an
7 application, the Attorney General shall state the reasons for
8 that advice. The reasons may include a determination that
9 implementation of the cooperative agreement will result in
10 price-fixing or predatory pricing.
11 (d) Upon receiving the Attorney General's advice, or
12 after the end of the 30-day period described in subsection
13 (c), the Director shall issue a decision recommending that
14 the State Board either approve or deny the application. The
15 Director shall transmit that decision, together with the
16 application, to the State Board.
17 (e) Upon receiving the Director's decision and the
18 application for approval of the cooperative agreement, the
19 State Board shall consider that decision and either approve
20 or deny the application, according to criteria developed by
21 the Agency and approved by the State Board.
22 (20 ILCS 3960/13.20 new)
23 Sec. 13.20. Hospital cooperative agreements; periodic
24 review. The Director may request, from the parties to a
25 cooperative agreement approved by the State Board under
26 Section 13.15, periodic progress reports concerning the
27 implementation of the agreement. The Attorney General may
28 request from the Director copies of any such reports received
29 by the Director.
30 (20 ILCS 3960/13.25 new)
31 Sec. 13.25. Hospital cooperative agreements; rescinding
32 approval. If the Director finds that any of the following
-4- LRB9102919DJcd
1 circumstances exist, the Director may issue to the State
2 Board a decision recommending that the State Board rescind
3 its approval of a hospital cooperative agreement:
4 (1) The parties to the agreement fail to submit
5 periodic progress reports requested by the Director.
6 (2) The agreement is not meeting one or more of the
7 goals specified in Section 13.10.
8 (3) The benefits resulting from the agreement do
9 not outweigh the disadvantages attributable to any
10 reduction in competition.
11 Upon receiving a decision from the Director under this
12 Section, the State Board shall consider the Director's
13 decision and may rescind approval of the cooperative
14 agreement.
15 (20 ILCS 3960/13.30 new)
16 Sec. 13.30. Hospital cooperative agreements; antitrust
17 exception.
18 (a) Members of a hospital's governing board who
19 participate in discussions or negotiations concerning the
20 allocation of health care equipment or health care services
21 as authorized under Section 13.10 are immune from any civil
22 or criminal liability under the Illinois Antitrust Act that
23 might otherwise result from those discussions or
24 negotiations.
25 (b) A hospital that is a party to a cooperative
26 agreement approved by the State Board under Section 13.15,
27 the members of the hospital's governing board, and the
28 hospital's officers, agents, and employees are immune from
29 any civil or criminal liability under the Illinois Antitrust
30 Act that might otherwise result from their authorized actions
31 taken to implement that agreement.
32 (c) It is the intent of Sections 13.5 through this
33 Section to require the State, through the Director, the State
-5- LRB9102919DJcd
1 Board, and the Attorney General, to provide direction,
2 supervision, and control over hospital cooperative agreements
3 approved under Section 13.15. To achieve the goals specified
4 in Section 13.10, this State direction, supervision, and
5 control will provide state action immunity under federal
6 antitrust laws to (i) hospitals, their governing board
7 members, and their officers, agents, and employees who take
8 authorized actions to implement a cooperative agreement
9 approved under Section 13.15 and (ii) hospital governing
10 board members who participate in discussions or negotiations
11 concerning the allocation of health care equipment or health
12 care services as authorized under Section 13.10.
13 (20 ILCS 3960/13.35 new)
14 Sec. 13.35. Hospital cooperative agreements; Attorney
15 General action. Nothing in Sections 13.5 through this
16 Section limits the authority of the Attorney General to
17 initiate an action to enforce the civil or criminal liability
18 provisions of the Illinois Antitrust Act if the Attorney
19 General determines that a hospital, the members of its
20 governing board, or its officers, agents, or employees have
21 exceeded the scope of the actions authorized under these
22 Sections.
23 Section 10. The Illinois Antitrust Act is amended by
24 changing Section 5 as follows:
25 (740 ILCS 10/5) (from Ch. 38, par. 60-5)
26 Sec. 5. No provisions of this Act shall be construed to
27 make illegal:
28 (1) the activities of any labor organization or of
29 individual members thereof which are directed solely to labor
30 objectives which are legitimate under the laws of either the
31 State of Illinois or the United States;
-6- LRB9102919DJcd
1 (2) the activities of any agricultural or horticultural
2 cooperative organization, whether incorporated or
3 unincorporated, or of individual members thereof, which are
4 directed solely to objectives of such cooperative
5 organizations which are legitimate under the laws of either
6 the State of Illinois or the United States;
7 (3) the activities of any public utility, as defined in
8 Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act to the extent that
9 such activities are subject to a clearly articulated and
10 affirmatively expressed State policy to replace competition
11 with regulation, where the conduct to be exempted is actively
12 supervised by the State itself;
13 (4) the activities of a telecommunications carrier, as
14 defined in Section 13-202 of the Public Utilities Act, to the
15 extent those activities relate to the provision of
16 noncompetitive telecommunications services under the Public
17 Utilities Act and are subject to the jurisdiction of the
18 Illinois Commerce Commission or to the activities of
19 telephone mutual concerns referred to in Section 13-202 of
20 the Public Utilities Act to the extent those activities
21 relate to the provision and maintenance of telephone service
22 to owners and customers;
23 (5) the activities (including, but not limited to, the
24 making of or participating in joint underwriting or joint
25 reinsurance arrangement) of any insurer, insurance agent,
26 insurance broker, independent insurance adjuster or rating
27 organization to the extent that such activities are subject
28 to regulation by the Director of Insurance of this State
29 under, or are permitted or are authorized by, the Insurance
30 Code or any other law of this State;
31 (6) the religious and charitable activities of any
32 not-for-profit corporation, trust or organization established
33 exclusively for religious or charitable purposes, or for both
34 purposes;
-7- LRB9102919DJcd
1 (7) the activities of any not-for-profit corporation
2 organized to provide telephone service on a mutual or
3 co-operative basis or electrification on a co-operative
4 basis, to the extent such activities relate to the marketing
5 and distribution of telephone or electrical service to owners
6 and customers;
7 (8) the activities engaged in by securities dealers who
8 are (i) licensed by the State of Illinois or (ii) members of
9 the National Association of Securities Dealers or (iii)
10 members of any National Securities Exchange registered with
11 the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities
12 Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, in the course of their
13 business of offering, selling, buying and selling, or
14 otherwise trading in or underwriting securities, as agent,
15 broker, or principal, and activities of any National
16 Securities Exchange so registered, including the
17 establishment of commission rates and schedules of charges;
18 (9) the activities of any board of trade designated as a
19 "contract market" by the Secretary of Agriculture of the
20 United States pursuant to Section 5 of the Commodity Exchange
21 Act, as amended;
22 (10) the activities of any motor carrier, rail carrier,
23 or common carrier by pipeline, as defined in the Common
24 Carrier by Pipeline Law of the Public Utilities Act, to the
25 extent that such activities are permitted or authorized by
26 the Act or are subject to regulation by the Illinois Commerce
27 Commission;
28 (11) the activities of any state or national bank to the
29 extent that such activities are regulated or supervised by
30 officers of the state or federal government under the banking
31 laws of this State or the United States;
32 (12) the activities of any state or federal savings and
33 loan association to the extent that such activities are
34 regulated or supervised by officers of the state or federal
-8- LRB9102919DJcd
1 government under the savings and loan laws of this State or
2 the United States;
3 (13) the activities of any bona fide not-for-profit
4 association, society or board, of attorneys, practitioners of
5 medicine, architects, engineers, land surveyors or real
6 estate brokers licensed and regulated by an agency of the
7 State of Illinois, in recommending schedules of suggested
8 fees, rates or commissions for use solely as guidelines in
9 determining charges for professional and technical services;
10 (14) conduct involving trade or commerce (other than
11 import trade or import commerce) with foreign nations unless:
12 (a) such conduct has a direct, substantial, and
13 reasonably foreseeable effect:
14 (i) on trade or commerce which is not trade or
15 commerce with foreign nations, or on import trade or
16 import commerce with foreign nations; or
17 (ii) on export trade or export commerce with
18 foreign nations of a person engaged in such trade or
19 commerce in the United States; and
20 (b) such effect gives rise to a claim under the
21 provisions of this Act, other than this subsection (14).
22 (c) If this Act applies to conduct referred to in
23 this subsection (14) only because of the provisions of
24 paragraph (a)(ii), then this Act shall apply to such
25 conduct only for injury to export business in the United
26 States which affects this State; or
27 (15) the activities of a unit of local government or
28 school district and the activities of the employees, agents
29 and officers of a unit of local government or school district
30 ; or.
31 (16) the activities of a hospital and the activities of
32 its governing board members and its officers, agents, and
33 employees in discussing, negotiating, entering into, or
34 implementing a cooperative agreement concerning the
-9- LRB9102919DJcd
1 allocation of health care equipment or health care services
2 authorized under Sections 13.5 through 13.35 of the Illinois
3 Health Facilities Planning Act.
4 (Source: P.A. 90-185, eff. 7-23-97; 90-561, eff. 12-16-97.)