770 ILCS 23/10

(770 ILCS 23/10)

Sec. 10.

Lien created; limitation.

(a) Every health care professional and health care provider that renders any
service
in the treatment, care, or maintenance of an injured person, except services
rendered under the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act or the Workers'
Occupational Diseases Act, shall have a lien
upon all
claims and causes of action of the injured person for the amount of the health
care
professional's or health care provider's reasonable charges up to the date of
payment of
damages to the injured person. The total amount of all liens under this Act,
however, shall
not exceed 40% of the verdict, judgment, award, settlement, or
compromise secured
by or on behalf of the injured person on his or her claim or right of action.

(b) The lien shall include a written notice containing the name and
address of
the injured person, the date of the injury, the name and address of the health
care
professional or health care provider, and the name of the party alleged to be
liable to
make compensation to the injured person for the injuries received. The lien
notice shall
be served on both the injured person and the party against whom the claim or
right of
action exists.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, payment in good faith to any
person other than the healthcare professional or healthcare provider claiming
or asserting such lien prior to the service of such notice of lien shall, to
the extent of the payment so made, bar or prevent the creation of an
enforceable lien.
Service shall be made by registered or certified mail or in person.

(c) All health care professionals and health care providers holding liens
under this
Act with respect to a particular injured person shall share proportionate
amounts within
the statutory limitation set forth in subsection (a).
The statutory limitations under this Section may be waived or otherwise reduced
only by the lienholder.
No individual licensed
category of
health care professional (such as physicians) or health care provider (such as
hospitals) as set forth in Section 5,
however, may receive more
than one-third of the verdict, judgment, award, settlement, or compromise
secured by or
on behalf
of the injured person on his or her claim or right of action.
If the total amount of all liens under this Act meets or exceeds 40% of the
verdict, judgment, award,
settlement, or compromise, then:

(1) all the liens of health care professionals shall

not exceed 20% of the verdict, judgment, award, settlement, or compromise; and

(2) all the liens of health care providers shall not

exceed 20% of the verdict, judgment, award, settlement, or compromise;

provided, however, that health care services liens shall be satisfied to the
extent
possible for all health care professionals and health care providers by
reallocating the
amount
unused within the aggregate total limitation of 40% for all health care
services liens
under
this Act; and provided further that the amounts of liens under paragraphs (1)
and (2) are subject to  the one-third limitation under this subsection.

 If the total amount of all liens under this Act meets or exceeds 40% of the
verdict, judgment,
award, settlement, or compromise, the total amount of all the liens of
attorneys under the
Attorneys Lien Act shall not
exceed 30% of the verdict, judgment, award, settlement, or compromise.  If an
appeal is taken by any party to a suit based on the claim or cause of
action, however,
the attorney's lien
shall not
be affected or limited by the provisions of this Act.

(d) If services furnished by health care professionals and health care
providers are
billed at one all-inclusive rate, the total reasonable charges for those
services shall be
reasonably allocated among the health care professionals and health care
providers and
treated as separate liens for purposes of this Act, including the filing of
separate lien
notices. For services provided under an all-inclusive rate, the liens of health
care
professionals and health care providers may be asserted by the entity that
bills the
all-inclusive rate.

(e) Payments under the liens shall be made directly to the health care
professionals and health care providers. For services provided under an
all-inclusive rate,
payments under liens shall be made directly to the entity that bills the
all-inclusive rate.

(Source: P.A. 93-51, eff. 7-1-03.)