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| 1 | AN ACT concerning State government.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 5. The Mental Health and Developmental | ||||||
| 5 | Disabilities Administrative Act is amended by adding Section | ||||||
| 6 | 18.6 as follows: | ||||||
| 7 | (20 ILCS 1705/18.6 new) | ||||||
| 8 | Sec. 18.6. Community hospital inpatient psychiatric | ||||||
| 9 | services program restoration. | ||||||
| 10 | (a) Findings. The General Assembly finds as follows: | ||||||
| 11 | (1) In 2002, the State of Illinois closed the Zeller | ||||||
| 12 | Mental Health Center in Peoria and significantly reduced | ||||||
| 13 | the capacities of the Elgin Mental Health Center and the | ||||||
| 14 | Alton Mental Health Center, severely reducing the State's | ||||||
| 15 | ability to provide inpatient psychiatric services at | ||||||
| 16 | State-operated facilities. | ||||||
| 17 | (2) In order to meet the State's obligation to | ||||||
| 18 | individuals who previously would have been treated in these | ||||||
| 19 | State-operated facilities, the Department of Human | ||||||
| 20 | Services' Division of Mental Health (DMH) established in | ||||||
| 21 | 2002 a program known as the Community Hospital Inpatient | ||||||
| 22 | Psychiatric Services ("CHIPS") Program (DMH; Cost Center | ||||||
| 23 | 550), under which DMH contracted with and reimbursed | ||||||
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| 1 | private community hospitals to provide acute inpatient | ||||||
| 2 | psychiatric services to individuals suffering from mental | ||||||
| 3 | illness. | ||||||
| 4 | (3) In 2009, in response to the State's budget crisis, | ||||||
| 5 | DMH eliminated all funding for the CHIPS program and | ||||||
| 6 | terminated all contracts with private community hospitals | ||||||
| 7 | for these services. The elimination of this vital program | ||||||
| 8 | threatens the health, safety, and welfare of Illinois | ||||||
| 9 | residents who are poor, uninsured, suffering from serious | ||||||
| 10 | mental illness, and require admission for inpatient | ||||||
| 11 | psychiatric services. | ||||||
| 12 | (4) With the elimination of the CHIPS program, many | ||||||
| 13 | Illinois residents with serious mental illness are forced | ||||||
| 14 | to rely on hospital emergency rooms. This interferes with | ||||||
| 15 | the orderly provision of emergency medical care to other | ||||||
| 16 | patients and can delay appropriate care for the person | ||||||
| 17 | suffering from mental illness. The elimination of CHIPS, | ||||||
| 18 | which provides an acute care option for persons in crisis, | ||||||
| 19 | also may increase homelessness and incarceration of | ||||||
| 20 | mentally ill persons. | ||||||
| 21 | (b) CHIPS program restored. Beginning July 1, 2010, the | ||||||
| 22 | Department of Human Services' Division of Mental Health shall | ||||||
| 23 | reinstate and fully operate the Community Hospital Inpatient | ||||||
| 24 | Psychiatric Services ("CHIPS") Program in the same manner as it | ||||||
| 25 | had been operated on May 1, 2009. | ||||||
| 26 | (c) Reimbursement. The Division of Mental Health shall | ||||||
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| 1 | establish and pay adequate and timely reimbursement for private | ||||||
| 2 | community hospitals, psychiatrists, and other mental health | ||||||
| 3 | professionals who render care under the CHIPS program using the | ||||||
| 4 | same reimbursement methodology that was in effect on May 1, | ||||||
| 5 | 2009. | ||||||
| 6 | (d) Regulations. The Division of Mental Health shall adopt | ||||||
| 7 | such regulations as shall be necessary to implement this | ||||||
| 8 | amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly.
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| 9 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
| 10 | becoming law.
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