Public Act 93-0480

SB1064 Enrolled                      LRB093 06804 AMC 06946 b

    AN ACT concerning health care.

    Be it  enacted  by  the  People  of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section 1.  Short title. This Act may  be  cited  as  the
Community Benefits Act.

    Section  5.  Applicability.  This Act does not apply to a
hospital operated by a unit of government, a hospital located
outside of a metropolitan statistical  area,  or  a  hospital
with 100 or fewer beds.  Hospitals that are owned or operated
by  or  affiliated with a health system shall be deemed to be
in compliance with this Act if the health system has met  the
requirements of this Act.

    Section 10.  Definitions. As used in this Act:
    "Charity  care"  means  care  provided  by  a health care
provider for which the provider does not  expect  to  receive
payment from the patient or a third party payer.
    "Community  benefits"  means  the  unreimbursed cost to a
hospital or health system of providing charity care, language
assistant  services,  government-sponsored  indigent   health
care,     donations,     volunteer    services,    education,
government-sponsored   program   services,   research,    and
subsidized   health   services   and  collecting  bad  debts.
"Community benefits" does not include the cost of paying  any
taxes or other governmental assessments.
    "Government  sponsored  indigent  health  care" means the
unreimbursed cost to a hospital or health system of Medicare,
providing health care services to recipients of Medicaid, and
other federal, State, or local indigent health care programs,
eligibility for which is based on financial need.
    "Health system" means an entity that owns or operates  at
least one hospital.
    "Nonprofit  hospital"  means a hospital that is organized
as   a    nonprofit    corporation,    including    religious
organizations,  or  a  charitable trust under Illinois law or
the laws of any other state or country.
    "Subsidized  health  services"   means   those   services
provided  by  a  hospital  in response to community needs for
which the reimbursement is less than the hospital's  cost  of
providing  the  services  that  must  be  subsidized by other
hospital or  nonprofit  supporting  entity  revenue  sources.
"Subsidized health services" includes, but is not limited to,
emergency and trauma care, neonatal intensive care, community
health   clinics,   and   collaborative  efforts  with  local
government or private agencies to prevent illness and improve
wellness, such as immunization programs.

    Section 15. Organizational mission  statement;  community
benefits plan. A nonprofit hospital shall develop:
         (1)  an   organizational   mission   statement  that
    identifies  the  hospital's  commitment  to  serving  the
    health care needs of the community; and
         (2)  a  community  benefits  plan  defined   as   an
    operational  plan for serving the community's health care
    needs that:
              (A)  sets  out   goals   and   objectives   for
         providing  community  benefits  that include charity
         care and government sponsored indigent health  care;
         and
              (B)  identifies the populations and communities
         served by the hospital.

    Section 20. Annual report for community benefits plan.
    (a)  Each  nonprofit  hospital  shall  prepare  an annual
report of  the  community  benefits  plan.  The  report  must
include,  in  addition to the community benefits plan itself,
all of the following background information:
         (1)  The hospital's mission statement.
         (2)  A disclosure of the health care  needs  of  the
    community   that   were   considered  in  developing  the
    hospital's community benefits plan.
         (3)  A  disclosure  of  the  amount  and  types   of
    community  benefits  actually provided, including charity
    care. Charity care must be reported separate  from  other
    community   benefits.  In  reporting  charity  care,  the
    hospital  must  report  the  actual  cost   of   services
    provided, based on the total cost to charge ratio derived
    from  the  hospital's  Medicare  cost report (CMS 2552-96
    Worksheet C, Part  1,  PPS  Inpatient  Ratios),  not  the
    charges for the services.
         (4)  Audited  annual  financial reports for its most
    recently completed fiscal year.
    (b)  Each nonprofit hospital shall annually file a report
of the community benefits plan with the Attorney General. The
report must be filed not later than the last day of the sixth
month  after  the  close  of  the  hospital's  fiscal   year,
beginning with the hospital fiscal year that ends in 2004.
    (c)  Each  nonprofit  hospital  shall prepare a statement
that notifies the  public  that  the  annual  report  of  the
community benefits plan is:
         (1)  public information;
         (2)  filed with the Attorney General; and
         (3)  available  to  the  public  on request from the
    Attorney General.
    This statement shall be made available to the public.
    (d)  The obligations of a hospital under this Act, except
for the filing of its audited financial  report,  shall  take
effect  beginning with the hospital's fiscal year that begins
after the effective date of this Act.  Within 60 days of  the
effective date of this Act, a hospital shall file the audited
annual  financial report that has been completed for its most
recently completed fiscal year.  Thereafter, a hospital shall
include its audited annual  financial  report  for  its  most
recently  completed  fiscal  year in its annual report of its
community benefits plan.

    Section 25.  Failure to file annual report. The  Attorney
General  may  assess  a  late  filing fee against a nonprofit
hospital that  fails  to  make  a  report  of  the  community
benefits  plan as required under this Act in an amount not to
exceed $100.  The Attorney General may grant  extensions  for
good  cause.  No  penalty  may be assessed against a hospital
under this Section until 30 business days have elapsed  after
written notification to the hospital of its failure to file a
report.

    Section  30.  Other  rights  and  remedies  retained. The
rights and remedies provided for in this Act are in  addition
to other statutory or common law rights or remedies available
to the State.

    Section  40.  Home  rule.   A  home  rule  unit  may  not
regulate   hospitals   in  a  manner  inconsistent  with  the
provisions of this Act.  This Section is a  limitation  under
subsection  (i)  of  Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois
Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of
powers and functions exercised by the State.

    Section 99. Effective date.  This Act takes  effect  upon
becoming law.