Public Act 095-0630
 
SB0545 Enrolled LRB095 05218 CMK 29876 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Department of Public Health Powers and
Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is
amended by adding Section 216 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 2310/216 new)
    Sec. 216. Culturally Competent Healthcare Demonstration
Program.
    (a) Research demonstrates that racial and ethnic
minorities generally receive health care that is of a lesser
quality than the majority population and have poorer health
outcomes on a number of measures. The 2007 State Health
Improvement Plan calls for increased cultural competence in
Illinois health care settings, based on national standards that
indicate cultural competence is an important aspect of the
quality of health care delivered to racial, ethnic, religious,
and other minorities. Based on the research and national
standards, the General Assembly finds that increasing cultural
competence among health care providers will improve the quality
of health care delivered to minorities in Illinois.
    (b) Subject to appropriation for this purpose, the
Department shall establish the Culturally Competent Health
Care Demonstration Program. For purposes of this Section,
"culturally competent health care" means the ability of health
care providers to understand and respond to the cultural and
linguistic needs brought by patients to the health care
encounter. The Program shall establish models that reflect best
practices in culturally competent health care and that expand
the delivery of culturally competent health care in Illinois.
    (c) The Program shall consist of (i) demonstration grants
awarded by the Department to public or private health care
entities geographically distributed around the State; (ii) an
ongoing collaborative learning project among the grantees; and
(iii) an evaluation of the effect of the demonstration grants
in improving the quality of health care for racial and ethnic
minorities. The Department may contract with a vendor with
experience in racial and ethnic health disparities and cultural
competency to conduct the evaluation and provide support for
the collaborative learning project. The vendor shall be a
not-for-profit organization that represents a partnership of
public, private, and voluntary health organizations that
focuses on prevention, development of the public health system,
and the reduction of racial and ethnic health disparities, and
that engages health disparities stakeholders in its efforts.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.