(410 ILCS 325/5.5) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 7405.5) Sec. 5.5. Risk assessment. (a) Whenever the Department receives a report of HIV infection or AIDS pursuant to this Act and the Department determines that the subject of the report may present or may have presented a possible risk of HIV transmission, the Department shall, when medically appropriate, investigate the subject of the report and that person's contacts as defined in subsection (c), to assess the potential risks of transmission. Any investigation and action shall be conducted in a timely fashion. All contacts other than those defined in subsection (c) shall be investigated in accordance with Section 5 of this Act. (b) If the Department determines that there is or may have been potential risks of HIV transmission from the subject of the report to other persons, the Department shall afford the subject the opportunity to submit any information and comment on proposed actions the Department intends to take with respect to the subject's contacts who are at potential risk of transmission of HIV prior to notification of the subject's contacts. The Department shall also afford the subject of the report the opportunity to notify the subject's contacts in a timely fashion who are at potential risk of transmission of HIV prior to the Department taking any steps to notify such contacts. If the subject declines to notify such contacts or if the Department determines the notices to be inadequate or incomplete, the Department shall endeavor to notify such other persons of the potential risk, and offer testing and counseling services to these individuals. When the contacts are notified, they shall be informed of the disclosure provisions of the AIDS Confidentiality Act and the penalties therein and this Section. (c) Contacts investigated under this Section shall in the case of HIV infection include (i) individuals who have undergone invasive procedures performed by an HIV infected health care provider and (ii) health care providers who have performed invasive procedures for persons infected with HIV, provided the Department has determined that there is or may have been potential risk of HIV transmission from the health care provider to those individuals or from infected persons to health care providers. The Department shall have access to the subject's records to review for the identity of contacts. The subject's records shall not be copied or seized by the Department. For purposes of this subsection, the term "invasive procedures" means those procedures termed invasive by the Centers for Disease Control in current guidelines or recommendations for the prevention of HIV transmission in health care settings, and the term "health care provider" means any physician, dentist, podiatric physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, nurse, or other person providing health care services of any kind. (d) All information and records held by the Department and local health authorities pertaining to activities conducted pursuant to this Section shall be strictly confidential and exempt from copying and inspection under the Freedom of Information Act. Such information and records shall not be released or made public by the Department or local health authorities, and shall not be admissible as evidence, nor discoverable in any action of any kind in any court or before any tribunal, board, agency or person and shall be treated in the same manner as the information and those records subject to the provisions of Part 21 of Article VIII of the Code of Civil Procedure except under the following circumstances: (1) When made with the written consent of all persons |