Public Act 93-0480
SB1064 Enrolled LRB093 06804 AMC 06946 b
AN ACT concerning health care.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Community Benefits Act.
Section 5. Applicability. This Act does not apply to a
hospital operated by a unit of government, a hospital located
outside of a metropolitan statistical area, or a hospital
with 100 or fewer beds. Hospitals that are owned or operated
by or affiliated with a health system shall be deemed to be
in compliance with this Act if the health system has met the
requirements of this Act.
Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Charity care" means care provided by a health care
provider for which the provider does not expect to receive
payment from the patient or a third party payer.
"Community benefits" means the unreimbursed cost to a
hospital or health system of providing charity care, language
assistant services, government-sponsored indigent health
care, donations, volunteer services, education,
government-sponsored program services, research, and
subsidized health services and collecting bad debts.
"Community benefits" does not include the cost of paying any
taxes or other governmental assessments.
"Government sponsored indigent health care" means the
unreimbursed cost to a hospital or health system of Medicare,
providing health care services to recipients of Medicaid, and
other federal, State, or local indigent health care programs,
eligibility for which is based on financial need.
"Health system" means an entity that owns or operates at
least one hospital.
"Nonprofit hospital" means a hospital that is organized
as a nonprofit corporation, including religious
organizations, or a charitable trust under Illinois law or
the laws of any other state or country.
"Subsidized health services" means those services
provided by a hospital in response to community needs for
which the reimbursement is less than the hospital's cost of
providing the services that must be subsidized by other
hospital or nonprofit supporting entity revenue sources.
"Subsidized health services" includes, but is not limited to,
emergency and trauma care, neonatal intensive care, community
health clinics, and collaborative efforts with local
government or private agencies to prevent illness and improve
wellness, such as immunization programs.
Section 15. Organizational mission statement; community
benefits plan. A nonprofit hospital shall develop:
(1) an organizational mission statement that
identifies the hospital's commitment to serving the
health care needs of the community; and
(2) a community benefits plan defined as an
operational plan for serving the community's health care
needs that:
(A) sets out goals and objectives for
providing community benefits that include charity
care and government sponsored indigent health care;
and
(B) identifies the populations and communities
served by the hospital.
Section 20. Annual report for community benefits plan.
(a) Each nonprofit hospital shall prepare an annual
report of the community benefits plan. The report must
include, in addition to the community benefits plan itself,
all of the following background information:
(1) The hospital's mission statement.
(2) A disclosure of the health care needs of the
community that were considered in developing the
hospital's community benefits plan.
(3) A disclosure of the amount and types of
community benefits actually provided, including charity
care. Charity care must be reported separate from other
community benefits. In reporting charity care, the
hospital must report the actual cost of services
provided, based on the total cost to charge ratio derived
from the hospital's Medicare cost report (CMS 2552-96
Worksheet C, Part 1, PPS Inpatient Ratios), not the
charges for the services.
(4) Audited annual financial reports for its most
recently completed fiscal year.
(b) Each nonprofit hospital shall annually file a report
of the community benefits plan with the Attorney General. The
report must be filed not later than the last day of the sixth
month after the close of the hospital's fiscal year,
beginning with the hospital fiscal year that ends in 2004.
(c) Each nonprofit hospital shall prepare a statement
that notifies the public that the annual report of the
community benefits plan is:
(1) public information;
(2) filed with the Attorney General; and
(3) available to the public on request from the
Attorney General.
This statement shall be made available to the public.
(d) The obligations of a hospital under this Act, except
for the filing of its audited financial report, shall take
effect beginning with the hospital's fiscal year that begins
after the effective date of this Act. Within 60 days of the
effective date of this Act, a hospital shall file the audited
annual financial report that has been completed for its most
recently completed fiscal year. Thereafter, a hospital shall
include its audited annual financial report for its most
recently completed fiscal year in its annual report of its
community benefits plan.
Section 25. Failure to file annual report. The Attorney
General may assess a late filing fee against a nonprofit
hospital that fails to make a report of the community
benefits plan as required under this Act in an amount not to
exceed $100. The Attorney General may grant extensions for
good cause. No penalty may be assessed against a hospital
under this Section until 30 business days have elapsed after
written notification to the hospital of its failure to file a
report.
Section 30. Other rights and remedies retained. The
rights and remedies provided for in this Act are in addition
to other statutory or common law rights or remedies available
to the State.
Section 40. Home rule. A home rule unit may not
regulate hospitals in a manner inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act. This Section is a limitation under
subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois
Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of
powers and functions exercised by the State.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.