Sen. Karina Villa

Filed: 5/25/2024

 

 


 

 


 
10300HB3521sam002LRB103 29647 LNS 74192 a

1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3521

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3521, AS AMENDED,
3by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
4following:
 
5    "Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by
6changing Section 9.6 as follows:
 
7    (210 ILCS 85/9.6)
8    Sec. 9.6. Patient protection from abuse.
9    (a) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or
10a hospital affiliate, or a member of a hospital's its medical
11staff, may abuse a patient in the hospital or in a facility
12operated by a hospital affiliate.
13    (b) Any hospital administrator, agent, employee, or
14medical staff member, or an administrator, employee, or
15physician employed by a hospital affiliate, who has reasonable
16cause to believe that any patient with whom he or she has

 

 

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1direct contact has been subjected to abuse in the hospital or
2hospital affiliate shall promptly report or cause a report to
3be made to a designated hospital administrator responsible for
4providing such reports to the Department as required by this
5Section.
6    (c) Retaliation against a person who lawfully and in good
7faith makes a report under this Section is prohibited.
8    (d) Upon receiving a report under subsection (b) of this
9Section, the hospital or hospital affiliate shall submit the
10report to the Department within 24 hours of obtaining such
11report. In the event that the hospital receives multiple
12reports involving a single alleged instance of abuse, the
13hospital shall submit one report to the Department.
14    (e) Upon receiving a report under this Section, the
15hospital or hospital affiliate shall promptly conduct an
16internal review to ensure the alleged victim's safety.
17Measures to protect the alleged victim shall be taken as
18deemed necessary by the hospital's administrator and may
19include, but are not limited to, removing suspected violators
20from further patient contact during the hospital's or hospital
21affiliate's internal review. If the alleged victim lacks
22decision-making capacity under the Health Care Surrogate Act
23and no health care surrogate is available, the hospital or
24hospital affiliate may contact the Illinois Guardianship and
25Advocacy Commission to determine the need for a temporary
26guardian of that person.

 

 

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1    (f) All internal hospital and hospital affiliate reviews
2shall be conducted by a designated hospital employee or agent
3who is qualified to detect abuse and is not involved in the
4alleged victim's treatment. All internal review findings must
5be documented and filed according to hospital or hospital
6affiliate procedures and shall be made available to the
7Department upon request.
8    (g) Any other person may make a report of patient abuse to
9the Department if that person has reasonable cause to believe
10that a patient has been abused in the hospital or hospital
11affiliate.
12    (h) The report required under this Section shall include:
13the name of the patient; the name and address of the hospital
14or hospital affiliate treating the patient; the age of the
15patient; the nature of the patient's condition, including any
16evidence of previous injuries or disabilities; and any other
17information that the reporter believes might be helpful in
18establishing the cause of the reported abuse and the identity
19of the person believed to have caused the abuse.
20    (i) Except for willful or wanton misconduct, any
21individual, person, institution, or agency participating in
22good faith in the making of a report under this Section, or in
23the investigation of such a report or in making a disclosure of
24information concerning reports of abuse under this Section,
25shall have immunity from any liability, whether civil,
26professional, or criminal, that otherwise might result by

 

 

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1reason of such actions. For the purpose of any proceedings,
2whether civil, professional, or criminal, the good faith of
3any persons required to report cases of suspected abuse under
4this Section or who disclose information concerning reports of
5abuse in compliance with this Section, shall be presumed.
6    (j) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or
7hospital affiliate shall adopt or employ practices or
8procedures designed to discourage good faith reporting of
9patient abuse under this Section.
10    (k) Every hospital and hospital affiliate shall ensure
11that all new and existing employees are trained in the
12detection and reporting of abuse of patients and retrained at
13least every 2 years thereafter.
14    (l) The Department shall investigate each report of
15patient abuse made under this Section according to the
16procedures of the Department, except that a report of abuse
17which indicates that a patient's life or safety is in imminent
18danger shall be investigated within 24 hours of such report.
19Under no circumstances may a hospital's or hospital
20affiliate's internal review of an allegation of abuse replace
21an investigation of the allegation by the Department.
22    (m) The Department shall keep a continuing record of all
23reports made pursuant to this Section, including indications
24of the final determination of any investigation and the final
25disposition of all reports. The Department shall inform the
26investigated hospital or hospital affiliate and any other

 

 

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1person making a report under subsection (g) of its final
2determination or disposition in writing.
3    (n) The Department shall not disclose to the public any
4information regarding any reports and investigations under
5this Section unless and until the report of abuse is
6substantiated following a full and proper investigation.
7    (o) All patient identifiable information in any report or
8investigation under this Section shall be confidential and
9shall not be disclosed except as authorized by this Act or
10other applicable law.
11    (p) Nothing in this Section relieves a hospital or
12hospital affiliate administrator, employee, agent, or medical
13staff member from contacting appropriate law enforcement
14authorities as required by law.
15    (q) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to mean
16that a patient is a victim of abuse because of health care
17services provided or not provided by health care
18professionals.
19    (r) Nothing in this Section shall require a hospital or
20hospital affiliate, including its employees, agents, and
21medical staff members, to provide any services to a patient in
22contravention of his or her stated or implied objection
23thereto upon grounds that such services conflict with his or
24her religious beliefs or practices, nor shall such a patient
25be considered abused under this Section for the exercise of
26such beliefs or practices.

 

 

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1    (s) The Department's implementation of this Section is
2subject to appropriations to the Department for that purpose.
3    (t) As used in this Section, the following terms have the
4following meanings:
5    "Abuse" means any physical or mental injury or sexual
6abuse intentionally inflicted by a hospital or hospital
7affiliate employee, agent, or medical staff member on a
8patient of the hospital or hospital affiliate and does not
9include any hospital or hospital affiliate, medical, health
10care, or other personal care services done in good faith in the
11interest of the patient according to established medical and
12clinical standards of care.
13    "Hospital affiliate" has the meaning given to that term in
14Section 10.8.
15    "Mental injury" means intentionally caused emotional
16distress in a patient from words or gestures that would be
17considered by a reasonable person to be humiliating,
18harassing, or threatening and which causes observable and
19substantial impairment.
20    "Sexual abuse" means any intentional act of sexual contact
21or sexual penetration of a patient in the hospital.
22    "Substantiated", with respect to a report of abuse, means
23that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that abuse
24occurred.
25(Source: P.A. 96-692, eff. 1-1-10.)".