Public Act 095-0469
 		





SB0015 Enrolled
LRB095 08183 KBJ 28349 b






    AN ACT concerning public health.

 
    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 
Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Prevention and Treatment 
Act.
 
    Section 5. Findings and purposes. 
    (a) The General Assembly finds all of the following:
        (1) Perinatal mental health disorders, commonly 
    referred to as "postpartum depression", include a wide 
    range of emotional, psychological, and physiological 
    reactions to childbirth, including feelings of 
    hopelessness, excessive guilt, sustained sadness, 
    inability to feel pleasure, low energy, sleep and appetite 
    disturbances, difficulty concentrating, and thoughts of 
    death or suicide, which challenge the stamina of a woman 
    during pregnancy or after childbirth, and impair her 
    ability to function and care for her child.
        (2) Every year, more than 500,000 women experience the 
    anxiety, hopelessness, desolation, and fatigue of 
    perinatal mental health disorders during pregnancy, in the 
    early postpartum months, and into their child's first year 
    of life.
        (3) Women at highest risk for perinatal mental health 
    disorders can be those with previous mental health 
    disorders, such as depression, anxiety or panic disorder, 
    and those with a family member with a history of such 
    mental health disorders.  However, perinatal mental health 
    disorders frequently strike without warning in women 
    without any past mental health disorders and with or 
    without any complications in pregnancy.
        (4) Many women suffering from perinatal mental health 
    disorders require counseling and treatment, yet many do not 
    realize that they need help or are unable to find and 
    secure appropriate resources.
        (5) In addition to the mother, the effects of perinatal 
    mental health disorders can also significantly impact the 
    infant, as well as the father, other children, and extended 
    family members.  Perinatal mental health disorders can 
    affect the mother's ability to respond sensitively to her 
    infant's needs and can strain the family relationships.
    (b) The purpose of this Act is:
        (1) to provide information to women and their families 
    about perinatal mental health disorders in order to lower 
    the likelihood that new mothers will continue to suffer 
    from this illness in silence;
        (2) to develop procedures for assessing women for 
    perinatal mental health disorders during prenatal and 
    postnatal visits to licensed health care professionals; 
    and
        (3) to promote early detection of perinatal mental 
    health disorders to promote early care and treatment and, 
    when medically appropriate, to avoid medication.
 
    Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
    "Hospital" has the meaning given to that term in the 
Hospital Licensing Act.
    "Licensed health care professional" means a physician 
licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, an advanced 
practice nurse who has a collaborative agreement with a 
collaborating physician that authorizes care, or a physician's 
assistant who has been delegated authority to provide care.
    "Postnatal care" means an office visit to a licensed health 
care professional occurring after birth, with reference to the 
infant or mother.
    "Prenatal care" means an office visit to a licensed health 
care professional for pregnancy-related care occurring before 
birth.
    "Questionnaire" means an assessment tool administered by a 
licensed health care professional to detect perinatal mental 
health disorders, such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression 
Scale, the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale, the Beck 
Depression Inventory, the Patient Health Questionnaire, or 
other validated assessment methods.
 
    Section 15. Perinatal mental health disorders prevention 
and treatment. The Department of Human Services, in conjunction 
with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the 
Department of Public Health, and the Department of Financial 
and Professional Regulation and the Medical Licensing Board, 
shall work with  hospitals and licensed health care 
professionals in this State to develop policies, procedures, 
information, and educational materials  to meet each of  the 
following requirements concerning perinatal mental health  
disorders:
        (1) Licensed health care professionals  providing 
    prenatal care to women  shall provide education to women 
    and, if possible and with permission, to their families 
    about perinatal mental health disorders in accordance with 
    the formal opinions and recommendations of the American 
    College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
        (2) All hospitals that provide labor and delivery 
    services in the State shall provide new mothers, prior to 
    discharge following childbirth, and, if possible, shall 
    provide fathers and other family members with complete 
    information about perinatal mental health disorders, 
    including its symptoms, methods of coping with the illness, 
    and treatment resources.  The Department of Human Services 
    shall provide written information that hospitals may use to 
    satisfy this subsection (2).
        (3) Licensed health care professionals providing 
    prenatal care at a prenatal visit shall invite each 
    pregnant patient  to complete a questionnaire and shall 
    review the completed questionnaire in accordance with the 
    formal opinions and recommendations of the American 
    College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.  Assessment for 
    perinatal mental health disorders must be repeated when, in 
    the professional judgment of the licensed health care 
    professional, a reasonable possibility exists that the 
    woman suffers from perinatal mental health disorders.

     
        (4)  Licensed health care professionals providing 
    postnatal care to women shall invite each patient to 
    complete a questionnaire and shall review the completed 
    questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and 
    recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians 
    and Gynecologists.
        (5) Licensed health care professionals providing 
    pediatric care to an infant shall invite the infant's 
    mother to complete a questionnaire at any well-baby 
    check-up at which the mother is present prior to the 
    infant's first birthday, and shall review the completed 
    questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and 
    recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians 
    and Gynecologists, in order to ensure that the health and 
    well-being of the infant  are not compromised by an 
    undiagnosed perinatal mental health disorder in the 
    mother.  In order to share results from an assessment with 
    the mother's primary licensed health care professional, 
    consent should be obtained from the mother in accordance 
    with the Illinois Health Insurance Portability and 
    Accountability Act.  If the mother is determined to present 
    an acute danger to herself or someone else, consent is not 
    required.