HB6769eng 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB6769 Engrossed LRB093 18334 AMC 44040 b

AN ACT concerning health facilities.

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

Section 5. The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act is amended by changing Section 3 and by adding Section 8.5 as follows:

(20 ILCS 3960/3) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 1153)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2008)

Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Health care facilities" means and includes the following facilities and organizations:

1. An ambulatory surgical treatment center required to be licensed pursuant to the Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act;

2. An institution, place, building, or agency required to be licensed pursuant to the Hospital Licensing Act;

3. Skilled and intermediate long term care facilities licensed under the Nursing Home Care Act;

4. Hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical treatment centers, or kidney disease treatment centers maintained by the State or any department or agency thereof;

5. Kidney disease treatment centers, including a free-standing hemodialysis unit; and

6. An institution, place, building, or room used for the performance of outpatient surgical procedures that is leased, owned, or operated by or on behalf of an out-of-state facility.

No federally owned facility shall be subject to the provisions of this Act, nor facilities used solely for healing by prayer or spiritual means.

No facility licensed under the Supportive Residences Licensing Act or the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act shall be subject to the provisions of this Act.

A facility designated as a supportive living facility that is in good standing with the demonstration project established under Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code shall not be subject to the provisions of this Act.

This Act does not apply to facilities granted waivers under Section 3-102.2 of the Nursing Home Care Act. However, if a demonstration project under that Act applies for a certificate of need to convert to a nursing facility, it shall meet the licensure and certificate of need requirements in effect as of the date of application.

This Act shall not apply to the closure of an entity or a portion of an entity licensed under the Nursing Home Care Act that elects to convert, in whole or in part, to an assisted living or shared housing establishment licensed under the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act.

With the exception of those health care facilities specifically included in this Section, nothing in this Act shall be intended to include facilities operated as a part of the practice of a physician or other licensed health care professional, whether practicing in his individual capacity or within the legal structure of any partnership, medical or professional corporation, or unincorporated medical or professional group. Further, this Act shall not apply to physicians or other licensed health care professional's practices where such practices are carried out in a portion of a health care facility under contract with such health care facility by a physician or by other licensed health care professionals, whether practicing in his individual capacity or within the legal structure of any partnership, medical or professional corporation, or unincorporated medical or professional groups. This Act shall apply to construction or modification and to establishment by such health care facility of such contracted portion which is subject to facility licensing requirements, irrespective of the party responsible for such action or attendant financial obligation.

"Person" means any one or more natural persons, legal entities, governmental bodies other than federal, or any combination thereof.

"Consumer" means any person other than a person (a) whose major occupation currently involves or whose official capacity within the last 12 months has involved the providing, administering or financing of any type of health care facility, (b) who is engaged in health research or the teaching of health, (c) who has a material financial interest in any activity which involves the providing, administering or financing of any type of health care facility, or (d) who is or ever has been a member of the immediate family of the person defined by (a), (b), or (c).

"State Board" means the Health Facilities Planning Board.

"Construction or modification" means the establishment, erection, building, alteration, reconstruction, modernization, improvement, extension, discontinuation, change of ownership, of or by a health care facility, or the purchase or acquisition by or through a health care facility of equipment or service for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes or for facility administration or operation, or any capital expenditure made by or on behalf of a health care facility which exceeds the capital expenditure minimum; however, any capital expenditure made by or on behalf of a health care facility for the construction or modification of a facility licensed under the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act shall be excluded from any obligations under this Act.

"Establish" means the construction of a health care facility or the replacement of an existing facility on another site.

"Major medical equipment" means medical equipment which is used for the provision of medical and other health services and which costs in excess of the capital expenditure minimum, except that such term does not include medical equipment acquired by or on behalf of a clinical laboratory to provide clinical laboratory services if the clinical laboratory is independent of a physician's office and a hospital and it has been determined under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to meet the requirements of paragraphs (10) and (11) of Section 1861(s) of such Act. In determining whether medical equipment has a value in excess of the capital expenditure minimum, the value of studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, and other activities essential to the acquisition of such equipment shall be included.

"Capital Expenditure" means an expenditure: (A) made by or on behalf of a health care facility (as such a facility is defined in this Act); and (B) which under generally accepted accounting principles is not properly chargeable as an expense of operation and maintenance, or is made to obtain by lease or comparable arrangement any facility or part thereof or any equipment for a facility or part; and which exceeds the capital expenditure minimum.

For the purpose of this paragraph, the cost of any studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, and other activities essential to the acquisition, improvement, expansion, or replacement of any plant or equipment with respect to which an expenditure is made shall be included in determining if such expenditure exceeds the capital expenditures minimum. Donations of equipment or facilities to a health care facility which if acquired directly by such facility would be subject to review under this Act shall be considered capital expenditures, and a transfer of equipment or facilities for less than fair market value shall be considered a capital expenditure for purposes of this Act if a transfer of the equipment or facilities at fair market value would be subject to review.

"Capital expenditure minimum" means $6,000,000, which shall be annually adjusted to reflect the increase in construction costs due to inflation, for major medical equipment and for all other capital expenditures; provided, however, that when a capital expenditure is for the construction or modification of a health and fitness center, "capital expenditure minimum" means the capital expenditure minimum for all other capital expenditures in effect on March 1, 2000, which shall be annually adjusted to reflect the increase in construction costs due to inflation.

"Non-clinical service area" means an area (i) for the benefit of the patients, visitors, staff, or employees of a health care facility and (ii) not directly related to the diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation of persons receiving services from the health care facility. "Non-clinical service areas" include, but are not limited to, chapels; gift shops; news stands; computer systems; tunnels, walkways, and elevators; telephone systems; projects to comply with life safety codes; educational facilities; student housing; patient, employee, staff, and visitor dining areas; administration and volunteer offices; modernization of structural components (such as roof replacement and masonry work); boiler repair or replacement; vehicle maintenance and storage facilities; parking facilities; mechanical systems for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; loading docks; and repair or replacement of carpeting, tile, wall coverings, window coverings or treatments, or furniture. Solely for the purpose of this definition, "non-clinical service area" does not include health and fitness centers.

"Areawide" means a major area of the State delineated on a geographic, demographic, and functional basis for health planning and for health service and having within it one or more local areas for health planning and health service. The term "region", as contrasted with the term "subregion", and the word "area" may be used synonymously with the term "areawide".

"Local" means a subarea of a delineated major area that on a geographic, demographic, and functional basis may be considered to be part of such major area. The term "subregion" may be used synonymously with the term "local".

"Areawide health planning organization" or "Comprehensive health planning organization" means the health systems agency designated by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services or any successor agency.

"Local health planning organization" means those local health planning organizations that are designated as such by the areawide health planning organization of the appropriate area.

"Physician" means a person licensed to practice in accordance with the Medical Practice Act of 1987, as amended.

"Licensed health care professional" means a person licensed to practice a health profession under pertinent licensing statutes of the State of Illinois.

"Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"Agency" means the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"Comprehensive health planning" means health planning concerned with the total population and all health and associated problems that affect the well-being of people and that encompasses health services, health manpower, and health facilities; and the coordination among these and with those social, economic, and environmental factors that affect health.

"Alternative health care model" means a facility or program authorized under the Alternative Health Care Delivery Act.

"Out-of-state facility" means a person that is both (i) licensed as a hospital or as an ambulatory surgery center under the laws of another state or that qualifies as a hospital or an ambulatory surgery center under regulations adopted pursuant to the Social Security Act and (ii) not licensed under the Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act, the Hospital Licensing Act, or the Nursing Home Care Act. Affiliates of out-of-state facilities shall be considered out-of-state facilities. Affiliates of Illinois licensed health care facilities 100% owned by an Illinois licensed health care facility, its parent, or Illinois physicians licensed to practice medicine in all its branches shall not be considered out-of-state facilities. Nothing in this definition shall be construed to include an office or any part of an office of a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches in Illinois that is not required to be licensed under the Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act.

"Change of ownership of a health care facility" means a change in the person who has ownership or control of a health care facility's physical plant and capital assets. A change in ownership is indicated by the following transactions: sale, transfer, acquisition, lease, change of sponsorship, or other means of transferring control.

"Related person" means any person that: (i) is at least 50% owned, directly or indirectly, by either the health care facility or a person owning, directly or indirectly, at least 50% of the health care facility; or (ii) owns, directly or indirectly, at least 50% of the health care facility.

"Charity care" means care provided by a health care facility for which the provider does not expect to receive payment from the patient or a third-party payer.

(Source: P.A. 93-41, eff. 6-27-03.)

(20 ILCS 3960/8.5 new)

Sec. 8.5. Certificate of exemption for change of ownership of a health care facility; public notice and public hearing.

(a) Upon a finding by the Department of Public Health that an application for a change of ownership is complete, the Department of Public Health shall publish a legal notice on 3 consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation in the area or community to be affected and afford the public an opportunity to request a hearing. If the application is for a facility located in a Metropolitan Statistical Area, an additional legal notice shall be published in a newspaper of limited circulation, if one exists, in the area in which the facility is located. If the newspaper of limited circulation is published on a daily basis, the additional legal notice shall be published on 3 consecutive days. The legal notice shall also be posted on the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board's web site and sent to the State Representative and State Senator of the district in which the health care facility is located. The Department of Public Health shall not find that an application for change of ownership of a hospital is complete without a signed certification that for a period of 2 years after the change of ownership transaction is effective, the hospital will not adopt a charity care policy that is more restrictive than the policy in effect during the year prior to the transaction.

For the purposes of this subsection, "newspaper of limited circulation" means a newspaper intended to serve a particular or defined population of a specific geographic area within a Metropolitan Statistical Area such as a municipality, town, village, township, or community area, but does not include publications of professional and trade associations.

(b) If a public hearing is requested, it shall be held at least 15 days but no more than 30 days after the date of publication of the legal notice in the community in which the facility is located. The hearing shall be held in a place of reasonable size and accessibility and a full and complete written transcript of the proceedings shall be made. The applicant shall provide a summary of the proposed change of ownership for distribution at the public hearing.