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91_HB0255
LRB9101906ACmb
1 AN ACT to amend the Medical Practice Act of 1987 by
2 adding Section 23.1.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Medical Practice Act of 1987 is amended
6 by adding Section 23.1 as follows:
7 (225 ILCS 60/23.1 new)
8 Sec. 23.1. Public disclosure of disciplinary records.
9 (a) The Disciplinary Board shall collect the following
10 information to create individual profiles on licensees, in a
11 format created by the Disciplinary Board that shall be
12 available for dissemination to the public:
13 (1) a description of any criminal convictions for
14 felonies and serious misdemeanors as determined by the
15 Disciplinary Board, within the most recent 10 years. For
16 the purposes of this item, a person shall be deemed to be
17 convicted of a crime if he or she pled guilty or if he or
18 she was found or adjudged guilty by a court of competent
19 jurisdiction;
20 (2) a description of any charges to which a
21 physician pleads nolo contendere or where a disposition
22 of supervision is made by a court of competent
23 jurisdiction, within the most recent 10 years;
24 (3) a description of any final disciplinary actions
25 taken by the Disciplinary Board within the most recent 10
26 years;
27 (4) a description of any final disciplinary actions
28 taken by licensing boards in other states within the most
29 recent 10 years;
30 (5) a description of revocation or involuntary
31 restriction of hospital privileges for reasons related to
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1 competence or character that have been taken by the
2 hospital's governing body or any other official of the
3 hospital after procedural due process has been afforded,
4 the resignation from or nonrenewal of medical staff
5 membership, or the restriction of privileges at a
6 hospital taken in lieu of or in settlement of a pending
7 disciplinary case related to competence or character in
8 that hospital. Only cases that have occurred within the
9 most recent 10 years shall be disclosed by the
10 Disciplinary Board to the public;
11 (6) all medical malpractice court judgments,
12 medical malpractice arbitration awards, and settlements
13 of medical malpractice claims in which a payment is made
14 to a complaining party, within the most recent 10 years.
15 Dispositions of paid claims shall be reported in a
16 minimum of 3 graduated categories indicating the level of
17 significance of the award or settlement. Information
18 concerning paid medical malpractice claims shall be put
19 in context by comparing an individual licensee's medical
20 malpractice judgment and arbitration awards and
21 settlements to the experience of other licensees within
22 the same specialty. Information concerning settlements
23 shall be accompanied by the following statement:
24 "Settlement of a claim may occur for a variety of reasons
25 which do not necessarily reflect negatively on the
26 professional competence or conduct of the physician. A
27 payment in settlement of a medical malpractice action or
28 claim should not be construed as creating a presumption
29 that medical malpractice has occurred." Nothing in this
30 Section shall be construed to limit or prevent the
31 Disciplinary Board from providing further explanatory
32 information regarding the significance of categories in
33 which settlements are reported.
34 Pending malpractice claims shall not be disclosed by
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1 the Disciplinary Board to the public. Nothing in this
2 Section shall be construed to prevent the Disciplinary
3 Board from investigating and disciplining a licensee on
4 the basis of medical malpractice claims that are pending;
5 and
6 (7) names of medical schools and dates of
7 graduation.
8 The Disciplinary Board shall provide each licensee with a
9 copy of his or her profile prior to release to the public. A
10 licensee shall be provided a reasonable time to correct
11 factual inaccuracies that appear in his or her profile.
12 (b) The Department shall maintain a toll free telephone
13 line for responding to requests for information about the
14 disciplinary records of physicians in Illinois.
15 (c) When collecting information or compiling reports
16 intended to compare physicians, the Disciplinary Board shall
17 require that:
18 (1) physicians shall be meaningfully involved in
19 the development of all aspects of the profile
20 methodology, including collection methods, formatting,
21 and methods and means for release and dissemination;
22 (2) the entire methodology for collecting and
23 analyzing the data shall be disclosed to all relevant
24 physician organizations and to all physicians under
25 review;
26 (3) data collection and analytical methodologies
27 shall be used that meet accepted standards of validity
28 and reliability;
29 (4) the limitations of the data sources and
30 analytic methodologies used to develop physician profiles
31 shall be clearly identified and acknowledged, including
32 but not limited to the appropriate and inappropriate uses
33 of the data;
34 (5) to the greatest extent possible, physician
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1 profiling initiatives shall use standard-based norms
2 derived from widely accepted, provider-developed practice
3 guidelines;
4 (6) provider profiles and other information that
5 have been compiled regarding physician performance shall
6 be shared with physicians under review prior to
7 dissemination provided that an opportunity for
8 corrections and additions of helpful explanatory comments
9 shall be afforded before publication, and provided
10 further that the profiles shall include only data that
11 reflect care under the control of the physician for whom
12 the profile is prepared;
13 (7) comparisons among physician profiles shall
14 adjust for patient case mix and other relevant risk
15 factors and control for provider peer groups, when
16 appropriate;
17 (8) effective safeguards to protect against the
18 unauthorized use or disclosure of physician profiles
19 shall be developed and implemented;
20 (9) effective safeguards to protect against the
21 dissemination of inconsistent, incomplete, invalid,
22 inaccurate, or subjective profile data shall be developed
23 and implemented; and
24 (10) the quality and accuracy of physician
25 profiles, data sources, and methodologies shall be
26 evaluated regularly.
27 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
28 becoming law.
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