SB2977eng 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB2977 Engrossed LRB102 22444 CPF 31584 b

AN ACT concerning regulation.

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

Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by changing Section 9.6 as follows:

(210 ILCS 85/9.6)

Sec. 9.6. Patient protection from abuse.

(a) No patient, administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or a member of its medical staff may abuse a patient in the hospital.

(b) Any hospital administrator, agent, employee, or medical staff member who has reasonable cause to believe that any patient with whom he or she has direct contact has been subjected to abuse in the hospital shall promptly report or cause a report to be made to a designated hospital administrator responsible for providing such reports to the Department as required by this Section.

(c) Retaliation against a person who lawfully and in good faith makes a report under this Section is prohibited.

(d) Upon receiving a report under subsection (b) of this Section, the hospital shall submit the report to the Department within 24 hours of obtaining such report. In the event that the hospital receives multiple reports involving a single alleged instance of abuse, the hospital shall submit one report to the Department.

(e) Upon receiving a report under this Section, the hospital shall promptly conduct an internal review to ensure the alleged victim's safety. Measures to protect the alleged victim shall be taken as deemed necessary by the hospital's administrator and may include, but are not limited to, removing suspected violators from further patient contact during the hospital's internal review. If the alleged victim lacks decision-making capacity under the Health Care Surrogate Act and no health care surrogate is available, the hospital may contact the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission to determine the need for a temporary guardian of that person.

(f) All internal hospital reviews shall be conducted by a designated hospital employee or agent who is qualified to detect abuse and is not involved in the alleged victim's treatment. All internal review findings must be documented and filed according to hospital procedures and shall be made available to the Department upon request.

(g) Any other person may make a report of patient abuse to the Department if that person has reasonable cause to believe that a patient has been abused in the hospital.

(h) The report required under this Section shall include: the name of the patient; the name and address of the hospital treating the patient; the age of the patient; the nature of the patient's condition, including any evidence of previous injuries or disabilities; and any other information that the reporter believes might be helpful in establishing the cause of the reported abuse and the identity of the person believed to have caused the abuse.

(i) Except for willful or wanton misconduct, any individual, person, institution, or agency participating in good faith in the making of a report under this Section, or in the investigation of such a report or in making a disclosure of information concerning reports of abuse under this Section, shall have immunity from any liability, whether civil, professional, or criminal, that otherwise might result by reason of such actions. For the purpose of any proceedings, whether civil, professional, or criminal, the good faith of any persons required to report cases of suspected abuse under this Section or who disclose information concerning reports of abuse in compliance with this Section, shall be presumed.

(j) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital shall adopt or employ practices or procedures designed to discourage good faith reporting of patient abuse under this Section.

(k) Every hospital shall ensure that all new and existing employees are trained in the detection and reporting of abuse of patients and retrained at least every 2 years thereafter.

(l) The Department shall investigate each report of patient abuse made under this Section according to the procedures of the Department, except that a report of abuse which indicates that a patient's life or safety is in imminent danger shall be investigated within 24 hours of such report. Under no circumstances may a hospital's internal review of an allegation of abuse replace an investigation of the allegation by the Department.

(m) The Department shall keep a continuing record of all reports made pursuant to this Section, including indications of the final determination of any investigation and the final disposition of all reports. The Department shall inform the investigated hospital and any other person making a report under subsection (g) of its final determination or disposition in writing.

(n) The Department shall not disclose to the public any information regarding any reports and investigations under this Section unless and until the report of abuse is substantiated following a full and proper investigation.

(o) All patient identifiable information in any report or investigation under this Section shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed except as authorized by this Act or other applicable law.

(p) Nothing in this Section relieves a hospital administrator, employee, agent, or medical staff member from contacting appropriate law enforcement authorities as required by law.

(q) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to mean that a patient is a victim of abuse because of health care services provided or not provided by health care professionals.

(r) Nothing in this Section shall require a hospital, including its employees, agents, and medical staff members, to provide any services to a patient in contravention of his or her stated or implied objection thereto upon grounds that such services conflict with his or her religious beliefs or practices, nor shall such a patient be considered abused under this Section for the exercise of such beliefs or practices.

(s) The Department's implementation of this Section is subject to appropriations to the Department for that purpose.

(t) As used in this Section, the following terms have the following meanings:

"Abuse" means any physical or mental injury or sexual abuse intentionally inflicted by a hospital employee, agent, patient, or medical staff member on a patient of the hospital and does not include any hospital, medical, health care, or other personal care services done in good faith in the interest of the patient according to established medical and clinical standards of care.

"Mental injury" means intentionally caused emotional distress in a patient from words or gestures that would be considered by a reasonable person to be humiliating, harassing, or threatening and which causes observable and substantial impairment.

"Sexual abuse" means any intentional act of sexual contact or sexual penetration of a patient in the hospital.

"Substantiated", with respect to a report of abuse, means that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that abuse occurred.

(Source: P.A. 96-692, eff. 1-1-10.)