Public Act 096-0572
 
HB2388 Enrolled LRB096 09993 DRJ 20157 b

    AN ACT concerning aging.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Elder Abuse and Neglect Act is amended by
changing Sections 2 and 3 as follows:
 
    (320 ILCS 20/2)  (from Ch. 23, par. 6602)
    Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the
context requires otherwise:
    (a) "Abuse" means causing any physical, mental or sexual
injury to an eligible adult, including exploitation of such
adult's financial resources.
    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that an
eligible adult is a victim of abuse, neglect, or self-neglect
for the sole reason that he or she is being furnished with or
relies upon treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone,
in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized
church or religious denomination.
    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that an
eligible adult is a victim of abuse because of health care
services provided or not provided by licensed health care
professionals.
    (a-5) "Abuser" means a person who abuses, neglects, or
financially exploits an eligible adult.
    (a-7) "Caregiver" means a person who either as a result of
a family relationship, voluntarily, or in exchange for
compensation has assumed responsibility for all or a portion of
the care of an eligible adult who needs assistance with
activities of daily living.
    (b) "Department" means the Department on Aging of the State
of Illinois.
    (c) "Director" means the Director of the Department.
    (d) "Domestic living situation" means a residence where the
eligible adult lives alone or with his or her family or a
caregiver, or others, or a board and care home or other
community-based unlicensed facility, but is not:
        (1) A licensed facility as defined in Section 1-113 of
    the Nursing Home Care Act;
        (2) A "life care facility" as defined in the Life Care
    Facilities Act;
        (3) A home, institution, or other place operated by the
    federal government or agency thereof or by the State of
    Illinois;
        (4) A hospital, sanitarium, or other institution, the
    principal activity or business of which is the diagnosis,
    care, and treatment of human illness through the
    maintenance and operation of organized facilities
    therefor, which is required to be licensed under the
    Hospital Licensing Act;
        (5) A "community living facility" as defined in the
    Community Living Facilities Licensing Act;
        (6) A "community residential alternative" as defined
    in the Community Residential Alternatives Licensing Act;
        (7) A "community-integrated living arrangement" as
    defined in the Community-Integrated Living Arrangements
    Licensure and Certification Act;
        (8) An assisted living or shared housing establishment
    as defined in the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act;
    or
        (9) A supportive living facility as described in
    Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code.
    (e) "Eligible adult" means a person 60 years of age or
older who resides in a domestic living situation and is, or is
alleged to be, abused, neglected, or financially exploited by
another individual or who neglects himself or herself.
    (f) "Emergency" means a situation in which an eligible
adult is living in conditions presenting a risk of death or
physical, mental or sexual injury and the provider agency has
reason to believe the eligible adult is unable to consent to
services which would alleviate that risk.
    (f-5) "Mandated reporter" means any of the following
persons while engaged in carrying out their professional
duties:
        (1) a professional or professional's delegate while
    engaged in: (i) social services, (ii) law enforcement,
    (iii) education, (iv) the care of an eligible adult or
    eligible adults, or (v) any of the occupations required to
    be licensed under the Clinical Psychologist Licensing Act,
    the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act, the
    Illinois Dental Practice Act, the Dietetic and Nutrition
    Services Practice Act, the Marriage and Family Therapy
    Licensing Act, the Medical Practice Act of 1987, the
    Naprapathic Practice Act, the Nurse Practice Act, the
    Nursing Home Administrators Licensing and Disciplinary
    Act, the Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act, the
    Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987, the Pharmacy
    Practice Act, the Illinois Physical Therapy Act, the
    Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987, the Podiatric
    Medical Practice Act of 1987, the Respiratory Care Practice
    Act, the Professional Counselor and Clinical Professional
    Counselor Licensing Act, the Illinois Speech-Language
    Pathology and Audiology Practice Act, the Veterinary
    Medicine and Surgery Practice Act of 2004, and the Illinois
    Public Accounting Act;
        (2) an employee of a vocational rehabilitation
    facility prescribed or supervised by the Department of
    Human Services;
        (3) an administrator, employee, or person providing
    services in or through an unlicensed community based
    facility;
        (4) any religious practitioner who provides treatment
    by prayer or spiritual means alone in accordance with the
    tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious
    denomination, except as to information received in any
    confession or sacred communication enjoined by the
    discipline of the religious denomination to be held
    confidential;
        (5) field personnel of the Department of Healthcare and
    Family Services, Department of Public Health, and
    Department of Human Services, and any county or municipal
    health department;
        (6) personnel of the Department of Human Services, the
    Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, the State Fire
    Marshal, local fire departments, the Department on Aging
    and its subsidiary Area Agencies on Aging and provider
    agencies, and the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman;
        (7) any employee of the State of Illinois not otherwise
    specified herein who is involved in providing services to
    eligible adults, including professionals providing medical
    or rehabilitation services and all other persons having
    direct contact with eligible adults;
        (8) a person who performs the duties of a coroner or
    medical examiner; or
        (9) a person who performs the duties of a paramedic or
    an emergency medical technician.
    (g) "Neglect" means another individual's failure to
provide an eligible adult with or willful withholding from an
eligible adult the necessities of life including, but not
limited to, food, clothing, shelter or health care. This
subsection does not create any new affirmative duty to provide
support to eligible adults. Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to mean that an eligible adult is a victim of neglect
because of health care services provided or not provided by
licensed health care professionals.
    (h) "Provider agency" means any public or nonprofit agency
in a planning and service area appointed by the regional
administrative agency with prior approval by the Department on
Aging to receive and assess reports of alleged or suspected
abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation.
    (i) "Regional administrative agency" means any public or
nonprofit agency in a planning and service area so designated
by the Department, provided that the designated Area Agency on
Aging shall be designated the regional administrative agency if
it so requests. The Department shall assume the functions of
the regional administrative agency for any planning and service
area where another agency is not so designated.
    (i-5) "Self-neglect" means a condition that is the result
of an eligible adult's inability, due to physical or mental
impairments, or both, or a diminished capacity, to perform
essential self-care tasks that substantially threaten his or
her own health, including: providing essential food, clothing,
shelter, and health care; and obtaining goods and services
necessary to maintain physical health, mental health,
emotional well-being, and general safety. The term includes
compulsive hoarding, which is characterized by the acquisition
and retention of large quantities of items and materials that
produce an extensively cluttered living space, which
significantly impairs the performance of essential self-care
tasks or otherwise substantially threatens life or safety.
    (j) "Substantiated case" means a reported case of alleged
or suspected abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or
self-neglect in which a provider agency, after assessment,
determines that there is reason to believe abuse, neglect, or
financial exploitation has occurred.
(Source: P.A. 94-1064, eff. 1-1-07; 95-639, eff. 10-5-07;
95-689, eff. 10-29-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)
 
    (320 ILCS 20/3)  (from Ch. 23, par. 6603)
    Sec. 3. Responsibilities.
    (a) The Department shall establish, design and manage a
program of response and services for persons 60 years of age
and older who have been, or are alleged to be, victims of
abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect. The
Department shall contract with or fund or, contract with and
fund, regional administrative agencies, provider agencies, or
both, for the provision of those functions, and, contingent on
adequate funding, with attorneys or legal services provider
agencies for the provision of legal assistance pursuant to this
Act. The program shall include the following services for
eligible adults who have been removed from their residences for
the purpose of cleanup or repairs: temporary housing;
counseling; and caseworker services to try to ensure that the
conditions necessitating the removal do not reoccur.
    (b) Each regional administrative agency shall designate
provider agencies within its planning and service area with
prior approval by the Department on Aging, monitor the use of
services, provide technical assistance to the provider
agencies and be involved in program development activities.
    (c) Provider agencies shall assist, to the extent possible,
eligible adults who need agency services to allow them to
continue to function independently. Such assistance shall
include but not be limited to receiving reports of alleged or
suspected abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or
self-neglect, conducting face-to-face assessments of such
reported cases, determination of substantiated cases, referral
of substantiated cases for necessary support services,
referral of criminal conduct to law enforcement in accordance
with Department guidelines, and provision of case work and
follow-up services on substantiated cases. In the case of a
report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect that places an
eligible adult at risk of injury or death, a provider agency
shall respond to the report on an emergency basis in accordance
with guidelines established by the Department by
administrative rule and shall ensure that it is capable of
responding to such a report 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
A provider agency may use an on-call system to respond to
reports of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect after hours
and on weekends.
    (d) By January 1, 2008, the Department on Aging, in
cooperation with an Elder Self-Neglect Steering Committee,
shall by rule develop protocols, procedures, and policies for
(i) responding to reports of possible self-neglect, (ii)
protecting the autonomy, rights, privacy, and privileges of
adults during investigations of possible self-neglect and
consequential judicial proceedings regarding competency, (iii)
collecting and sharing relevant information and data among the
Department, provider agencies, regional administrative
agencies, and relevant seniors, (iv) developing working
agreements between provider agencies and law enforcement,
where practicable, and (v) developing procedures for
collecting data regarding incidents of self-neglect. The Elder
Self-Neglect Steering Committee shall be comprised of one
person selected by the Elder Abuse Advisory Committee of the
Department on Aging; 3 persons selected, on the request of the
Director of Aging, by State or regional organizations that
advocate for the rights of seniors, at least one of whom shall
be a legal assistance attorney who represents seniors in
competency proceedings; 2 persons selected, on the request of
the Director of Aging, by statewide organizations that
represent social workers and other persons who provide direct
intervention and care to housebound seniors who are likely to
neglect themselves; an expert on geropsychiatry, appointed by
the Secretary of Human Services; an expert on issues of
physical health associated with seniors, appointed by the
Director of Public Health; one representative of a law
enforcement agency; one representative of the Chicago
Department on Aging; and 3 other persons selected by the
Director of Aging, including an expert from an institution of
higher education who is familiar with the relevant areas of
data collection and study.
(Source: P.A. 94-1064, eff. 1-1-07; 95-76, eff. 6-1-08.)