HB0981eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0981 Engrossed LRB095 08129 CMK 28294 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 2310-367 as follows:

(20 ILCS 2310/2310-367 new)

Sec. 2310-367. Health Data Task Force.

(a) Subject to an appropriation or the availability of other funds identified for this purpose, the Health Data Task Force is created. In accordance with the recommendations of the 2007 Illinois State Health Improvement Plan, the Health Data Task Force shall develop a plan to create a linked health data system that measures, analyzes, and reports on the health status of Illinois residents, including those impacted by health disparities. The plan shall include, but not be limited to all of the following:

(1) Approaches to assuring adequate data on race, ethnicity, geographic location, gender, age, sexual orientation, and other populations affected by health disparities.

(2) Identification of and proposals for addressing privacy and other legal issues.

(3) Identification of and approaches to solving compatibility issues, including software, hardware, platform, and other information systems issues.

(4) Identification of needs and approaches to standardizing definitions of indicators across systems to assure comparability.

(5) Approaches that assure the highest quality data collection.

(6) Development of methods to increase the timeliness and availability of health data.

(7) Integration of methods to increase the timeliness and availability of health data.

(8) Methods for effective dissemination and use of the health data to non-governmental organizations for program development and policy planning.

(b) The Health Data Task Force shall be composed of the following members: the Director of Public Health or his or her designee; the Director of Children and Family Services or his or her designee; the Director of Central Management Services or his or her designee; the Secretary of Human Services or his or her designee; the State Superintendent of Education or his or her designee; and a maximum of 20 public members appointed by the Governor including, but not be limited to, representatives of health care provider organizations, local health departments, minority health organizations, and other users and providers of public health data.

(c) The Task Force members shall serve without compensation, but public members shall be reimbursed for their reasonable travel expenses incurred in performing their duties in connection with the Task Force.

(d) The Department of Public Health shall be the primary agency in providing staff and administrative support to the Task Force. The other State agencies represented on the Task Force shall work cooperatively with the Department of Public Health to provide administrative support to the Task Force.

(e) Within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Department of Public Health may contract with an independent vendor that has expertise in public health data management, analysis, and information systems. In addition, the Department may contract with a vendor to provide the task force with logistical and process support in the development of the plan to create a linked health data system.

(f) The Task Force shall submit its plan to the Governor and to the General Assembly no later than December 31, 2008.

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