Full Text of HB3714 103rd General Assembly
HB3714ham001 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Rep. Aaron M. Ortiz Filed: 3/23/2023
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3714
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3714 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
| 4 | | "Section 5. The Language Assistance Services Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Sections 5, 10, and 15 as follows:
| 6 | | (210 ILCS 87/5)
| 7 | | Sec. 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds | 8 | | and declares
that Illinois is becoming a land
of people whose | 9 | | languages and cultures give the state a global quality. The
| 10 | | Legislature further finds and declares that access to basic | 11 | | health care
services is the right of every individual living | 12 | | in resident of the State, and that access to
information | 13 | | regarding basic health care services is an essential element | 14 | | of
that right.
| 15 | | Therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly that | 16 | | where language or
communication barriers exist between |
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| 1 | | patients and the staff of a health
facility, arrangements | 2 | | shall be made for a qualified medical interpreter in order to | 3 | | provide meaningful access for patients, or family members, | 4 | | caretakers, or decision makers of patients, who are limited | 5 | | English proficient or deaf or hard of hearing interpreters or | 6 | | bilingual
professional staff to ensure adequate and speedy | 7 | | communication between patients
and staff .
| 8 | | (Source: P.A. 88-244.)
| 9 | | (210 ILCS 87/10)
| 10 | | Sec. 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
| 11 | | "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
| 12 | | "Health facility" means a hospital licensed under the | 13 | | Hospital Licensing Act, a long-term care facility licensed | 14 | | under the Nursing Home Care Act, or a facility licensed under | 15 | | the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, or the | 16 | | Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013. | 17 | | "Interpreter" means a person fluent in English and in the | 18 | | necessary
language of the patient who can accurately speak, | 19 | | read, and readily interpret
the necessary second language, or | 20 | | a person who can accurately sign and read
sign language. | 21 | | Interpreters shall have the ability to translate the names of
| 22 | | body parts and to describe completely symptoms and injuries in | 23 | | both languages.
Interpreters may include members of the | 24 | | medical or professional staff.
| 25 | | "Language or communication barriers" means either of the |
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| 1 | | following:
| 2 | | (1) With respect to spoken language, barriers that are | 3 | | experienced by
limited-English-speaking or | 4 | | non-English-speaking
individuals who speak the same
| 5 | | primary language, if those individuals constitute at least | 6 | | 5% of the
patients served by the health facility annually.
| 7 | | (2) With respect to sign language, barriers that are | 8 | | experienced by
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing | 9 | | and whose primary language is sign language.
| 10 | | "Limited English proficient" means a patient, or the | 11 | | family member, caretaker, or decision maker of a patient, who | 12 | | may have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or | 13 | | understand English. | 14 | | "Health facility" means a hospital licensed under the | 15 | | Hospital Licensing Act,
a long-term care facility licensed | 16 | | under the Nursing Home Care Act, or a facility licensed under | 17 | | the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, or the | 18 | | Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013. | 19 | | "Meaningful access" means the provision of services in a | 20 | | manner that is equally accessible and meaningful to all | 21 | | individuals seeking services regardless of their ability to | 22 | | speak or understand English. | 23 | | "Medical interpreter techniques competency" means: | 24 | | (1) having received training that includes the | 25 | | techniques and ethics of interpreting; | 26 | | (2) the ability to speak, read, write, and understand |
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| 1 | | English as well as another language other than English; | 2 | | (3) having fundamental knowledge in both English and | 3 | | the alternate language of any specialized terms, concepts, | 4 | | and cultural awareness; | 5 | | (4) understanding the role of culture in a health care | 6 | | setting; and | 7 | | (5) abiding by a code of medical interpreter standards | 8 | | and professional ethics. | 9 | | "Qualified medical interpreter" means a qualified | 10 | | individual with medical interpreter techniques competency to | 11 | | provide and facilitate oral communication between 2 or more | 12 | | conversing parties that do not speak each other's language and | 13 | | who is either proficient in 2 or more languages or an | 14 | | interpreter in American Sign Language (ASL) with appropriate | 15 | | licensure.
| 16 | | (Source: P.A. 98-104, eff. 7-22-13; 99-180, eff. 7-29-15.)
| 17 | | (210 ILCS 87/15)
| 18 | | Sec. 15. Language assistance services. | 19 | | (a) To ensure access to
health care information and | 20 | | services for individuals who are limited English proficient,
| 21 | | limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking , and deaf or
| 22 | | hard of hearing residents and deaf residents,
a health | 23 | | facility must do the following:
| 24 | | (1) Adopt and review annually a policy for providing | 25 | | language assistance
services to patients with language or |
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| 1 | | communication barriers. The policy shall
include | 2 | | procedures for providing, to the extent possible as | 3 | | determined by the
facility, the use of a qualified medical | 4 | | an interpreter whenever a language or communication
| 5 | | barrier
exists, except where the patient, after being | 6 | | informed of the availability of
the qualified medical | 7 | | interpreter services service , chooses to use a family | 8 | | member or friend who
volunteers to interpret , which shall | 9 | | be documented in the patient's medical chart. Employees of | 10 | | a health facility have the right to use a qualified | 11 | | medical interpreter for their own communication with a | 12 | | limited English proficient patient if a conversation | 13 | | between the limited English proficient patient and the | 14 | | employee would be jeopardized by the use of the patient's | 15 | | volunteer interpreter . The procedures shall be designed to | 16 | | maximize
efficient use of qualified medical interpreters | 17 | | and minimize delays in the provision of qualified medical | 18 | | providing interpreters to limited English proficient
| 19 | | patients. The procedures shall ensure insure , to the | 20 | | extent possible as determined
by the facility, that | 21 | | qualified medical
interpreters are available, either | 22 | | in-person on the premises or accessible remotely by | 23 | | telephone,
24 hours a day. The facility shall annually | 24 | | transmit to the Department of
Public Health a
copy of the | 25 | | updated policy regarding
language assistance services and | 26 | | shall include a
description of the facility's process to |
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| 1 | | ensure adequate
and speedy communication between staff and | 2 | | patients with
language or communication barriers and shall | 3 | | include a description of the facility's
efforts to
insure | 4 | | adequate and speedy communication between patients with | 5 | | language or
communication barriers and staff .
| 6 | | (2) Develop, and post, either by physical or | 7 | | electronic means, in conspicuous locations, notices that | 8 | | advise patients
and their families of the availability of | 9 | | qualified medical interpreters, the procedure for
| 10 | | obtaining a qualified medical an interpreter, and the | 11 | | telephone numbers to call for filing
complaints concerning | 12 | | qualified medical interpreter service problems, including, | 13 | | but not limited
to, a
TTY or
video relay service (VRS) | 14 | | number for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The | 15 | | notices shall be posted, at a
minimum, in the emergency | 16 | | room, the admitting area, the facility entrance, and
the
| 17 | | outpatient areas area . Notices shall inform limited | 18 | | English proficient and deaf or hard
of hearing patients | 19 | | that qualified medical interpreter services are
available | 20 | | upon on request, shall list the languages most commonly | 21 | | encountered at the facility for which qualified medical | 22 | | interpreter services
are available, and shall instruct | 23 | | patients to direct complaints regarding qualified medical
| 24 | | interpreter services to the Department of Public Health, | 25 | | including the
telephone
numbers to call for that purpose.
| 26 | | (3) Notify the facility's employees of the language |
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| 1 | | assistance services available at the facility and train | 2 | | the employees them on how to access make those language | 3 | | services available for limited English proficient and deaf
| 4 | | or hard of hearing to patients. | 5 | | (4) If qualified medical interpreters of a specific | 6 | | language are limited in availability, the health facility | 7 | | shall not have fines and penalties imposed. Qualified | 8 | | medical interpreters are limited in availability if a | 9 | | facility attempts to contact at least 3 agencies offering | 10 | | interpretation services, the agencies are unable to | 11 | | provide qualified medical interpreters for the requested | 12 | | language, and the facility documents the date, time, and | 13 | | result of each attempt to acquire a qualified medical | 14 | | interpreter for the patient's language. | 15 | | (5) If a health facility contracts with a third party | 16 | | for medical interpreter services and the third party | 17 | | attests to the status of the provided interpreters as | 18 | | qualified medical interpreters, then the health facility | 19 | | shall not have fines and penalties imposed related to the | 20 | | qualifications of the interpreter.
| 21 | | (b) In addition, a health facility may do one or more of | 22 | | the following: | 23 | | (1) Identify and record a patient's primary or
| 24 | | preferred language and dialect on one or more of the | 25 | | following: a patient medical chart, electronic medical
| 26 | | record, or hospital bracelet, bedside notice , or nursing |
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| 1 | | card . | 2 | | (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of contact
| 3 | | information for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter
| 4 | | providers or individuals interpreters who have been | 5 | | identified as being as proficient in sign language as a
| 6 | | person with a master's level proficient in sign language, | 7 | | according to the Interpreter for the Deaf Licensure Act of | 8 | | 2007 , as well as and a list of the languages of the | 9 | | population of the geographical area served by the | 10 | | facility.
| 11 | | (3) Review all standardized written forms, waivers, | 12 | | documents, and
informational materials available to | 13 | | limited English proficient patients on admission to | 14 | | determine documents that may require translation which
to | 15 | | translate into languages other than English .
| 16 | | (4) (Blank). Consider providing its nonbilingual staff | 17 | | with standardized picture and
phrase sheets for use in | 18 | | routine communications with patients who have language
or | 19 | | communication barriers.
| 20 | | (5) Develop community liaison groups to enable the | 21 | | facility and the limited English proficient
| 22 | | limited-English-speaking, non-English-speaking, and deaf | 23 | | or hard of hearing communities to ensure
the adequacy of | 24 | | the qualified medical
interpreter services.
| 25 | | (Source: P.A. 102-4, eff. 4-27-21.)".
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