Public Act 095-0630
 		





SB0545 Enrolled
LRB095 05218 CMK 29876 b






    AN ACT concerning State government.

 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:


 
    Section 5. The Department of Public Health Powers and 
Duties Law of the
Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is 
amended  by adding Section 216 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 2310/216  new)
    Sec. 216. Culturally Competent Healthcare Demonstration 
Program.
    (a)  Research demonstrates that racial and ethnic 
minorities generally receive health care that is of a lesser 
quality than the majority population and have poorer health 
outcomes on a number of measures.  The 2007 State Health 
Improvement Plan calls for increased cultural competence in 
Illinois health care settings, based on national standards that 
indicate cultural competence is an important aspect of the 
quality of health care delivered to racial, ethnic, religious, 
and other minorities.  Based on the research and national 
standards, the General Assembly finds that increasing cultural 
competence among health care providers will improve the quality 
of health care delivered to minorities in Illinois.
    (b)  Subject to appropriation for this purpose, the 
Department shall establish the Culturally Competent Health 
Care Demonstration Program.  For purposes of this Section, 
"culturally competent health care" means the ability of health 
care providers to understand and respond to the cultural and 
linguistic needs brought by patients to the health care 
encounter. The Program shall establish models that reflect best 
practices in culturally competent health care and that expand 
the delivery of culturally competent health care in Illinois.
    (c) The Program shall consist of  (i) demonstration grants 
awarded by the Department to public or private health care 
entities geographically distributed around the State; (ii) an 
ongoing collaborative learning project among the grantees; and 
(iii) an evaluation of the effect of the demonstration grants 
in improving the quality of health care for racial and ethnic 
minorities.  The Department may contract with a vendor with 
experience in racial and ethnic health disparities and cultural 
competency to conduct the evaluation and provide support for 
the collaborative learning project.  The vendor shall be a 
not-for-profit organization that represents a partnership of 
public, private, and voluntary health organizations that 
focuses on prevention, development of the public health system, 
and the reduction of racial and ethnic health disparities, and 
that engages health disparities stakeholders in its efforts.
 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.