Public Act 095-0667
 
SB0544 Enrolled LRB095 08190 DRJ 28357 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Language Assistance Services Act is amended
by changing Section 15 as follows:
 
    (210 ILCS 87/15)
    Sec. 15. Language assistance services.
    (a) To insure access to health care information and
services for limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking
residents and deaf residents, a health facility must do one or
more of the following:
        (1) Review existing policies regarding interpreters
    for patients with limited English proficiency and for
    patients who are deaf, including the availability of staff
    to act as interpreters.
        (1) (2) Adopt and review annually a policy for
    providing language assistance services to patients with
    language or communication barriers. The policy shall
    include procedures for providing, to the extent possible as
    determined by the facility, the use of an interpreter
    whenever a language or communication barrier exists,
    except where the patient, after being informed of the
    availability of the interpreter service, chooses to use a
    family member or friend who volunteers to interpret. The
    procedures shall be designed to maximize efficient use of
    interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters
    to patients. The procedures shall insure, to the extent
    possible as determined by the facility, that interpreters
    are available, either on the premises or accessible by
    telephone, 24 hours a day. The facility shall annually
    transmit to the Department of Public Health a copy of the
    updated policy and shall include a description of the
    facility's efforts to insure adequate and speedy
    communication between patients with language or
    communication barriers and staff.
        (2) (3) Develop, and post in conspicuous locations,
    notices that advise patients and their families of the
    availability of interpreters, the procedure for obtaining
    an interpreter, and the telephone numbers to call for
    filing complaints concerning interpreter service problems,
    including, but not limited to, a TTY number for persons who
    are deaf or hard of hearing T.D.D. number for the hearing
    impaired. The notices shall be posted, at a minimum, in the
    emergency room, the admitting area, the facility entrance,
    and the outpatient area. Notices shall inform patients that
    interpreter services are available on request, shall list
    the languages most commonly encountered at the facility for
    which interpreter services are available, and shall
    instruct patients to direct complaints regarding
    interpreter services to the Department of Public Health,
    including the telephone numbers to call for that purpose.
        (4) Identify and record a patient's primary language
    and dialect on one or more of the following: a patient
    medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or
    nursing card.
        (5) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of
    interpreters who have been identified as proficient in sign
    language and in the languages of the population of the
    geographical area served by the facility who have the
    ability to translate the names of body parts, injuries, and
    symptoms.
        (3) (6) Notify the facility's employees of the language
    services available at the facility and train them on how to
    make those language services available to patients
    facility's commitment to provide interpreters to all
    patients who request them.
    (b) In addition, a health facility may do one or more of
the following:
        (1) Identify and record a patient's primary language
    and dialect on one or more of the following: a patient
    medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or
    nursing card.
        (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of
    interpreters who have been identified as proficient in sign
    language according to the Interpreters for the Deaf Act and
    a list of the languages of the population of the
    geographical area served by the facility.
        (3) (7) Review all standardized written forms,
    waivers, documents, and informational materials available
    to patients on admission to determine which to translate
    into languages other than English.
        (4) (8) Consider providing its nonbilingual staff with
    standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in routine
    communications with patients who have language or
    communication barriers.
        (5) (9) Develop community liaison groups to enable the
    facility and the limited-English-speaking,
    non-English-speaking, and deaf communities to insure the
    adequacy of the interpreter services.
(Source: P.A. 93-564, eff. 1-1-04.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.