Public Act 103-0803
 
HB3521 EnrolledLRB103 29647 BMS 56046 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by 
changing Section 9.6 as follows:
 
    (210 ILCS 85/9.6)
    Sec. 9.6. Patient protection from abuse.
    (a) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or 
a hospital affiliate, or a member of a hospital's its medical 
staff, may abuse a patient in the hospital or in a facility 
operated by a hospital affiliate.
    (b) Any hospital administrator, agent, employee, or 
medical staff member, or an administrator, employee, or 
physician employed by a hospital affiliate, who has reasonable 
cause to believe that any patient with whom he or she has 
direct contact has been subjected to abuse in the hospital or 
hospital affiliate shall promptly report or cause a report to 
be made to a designated hospital administrator responsible for 
providing such reports to the Department as required by this 
Section.
    (c) Retaliation against a person who lawfully and in good 
faith makes a report under this Section is prohibited.
    (d) Upon receiving a report under subsection (b) of this 
Section, the hospital or hospital affiliate shall submit the 
report to the Department within 24 hours of obtaining such 
report. In the event that the hospital receives multiple 
reports involving a single alleged instance of abuse, the 
hospital shall submit one report to the Department.
    (e) Upon receiving a report under this Section, the 
hospital or hospital affiliate shall promptly conduct an 
internal review to ensure the alleged victim's safety. 
Measures to protect the alleged victim shall be taken as 
deemed necessary by the hospital's administrator and may 
include, but are not limited to, removing suspected violators 
from further patient contact during the hospital's or hospital 
affiliate's internal review. If the alleged victim lacks 
decision-making capacity under the Health Care Surrogate Act 
and no health care surrogate is available, the hospital or 
hospital affiliate may contact the Illinois Guardianship and 
Advocacy Commission to determine the need for a temporary 
guardian of that person.
    (f) All internal hospital and hospital affiliate reviews 
shall be conducted by a designated hospital employee or agent 
who is qualified to detect abuse and is not involved in the 
alleged victim's treatment. All internal review findings must 
be documented and filed according to hospital or hospital 
affiliate procedures and shall be made available to the 
Department upon request.
    (g) Any other person may make a report of patient abuse to 
the Department if that person has reasonable cause to believe 
that a patient has been abused in the hospital or hospital 
affiliate.
    (h) The report required under this Section shall include: 
the name of the patient; the name and address of the hospital 
or hospital affiliate treating the patient; the age of the 
patient; the nature of the patient's condition, including any 
evidence of previous injuries or disabilities; and any other 
information that the reporter believes might be helpful in 
establishing the cause of the reported abuse and the identity 
of the person believed to have caused the abuse.
    (i) Except for willful or wanton misconduct, any 
individual, person, institution, or agency participating in 
good faith in the making of a report under this Section, or in 
the investigation of such a report or in making a disclosure of 
information concerning reports of abuse under this Section, 
shall have immunity from any liability, whether civil, 
professional, or criminal, that otherwise might result by 
reason of such actions. For the purpose of any proceedings, 
whether civil, professional, or criminal, the good faith of 
any persons required to report cases of suspected abuse under 
this Section or who disclose information concerning reports of 
abuse in compliance with this Section, shall be presumed.
    (j) No administrator, agent, or employee of a hospital or 
hospital affiliate shall adopt or employ practices or 
procedures designed to discourage good faith reporting of 
patient abuse under this Section.
    (k) Every hospital and hospital affiliate shall ensure 
that all new and existing employees are trained in the 
detection and reporting of abuse of patients and retrained at 
least every 2 years thereafter.
    (l) The Department shall investigate each report of 
patient abuse made under this Section according to the 
procedures of the Department, except that a report of abuse 
which indicates that a patient's life or safety is in imminent 
danger shall be investigated within 24 hours of such report. 
Under no circumstances may a hospital's or hospital 
affiliate's internal review of an allegation of abuse replace 
an investigation of the allegation by the Department.
    (m) The Department shall keep a continuing record of all 
reports made pursuant to this Section, including indications 
of the final determination of any investigation and the final 
disposition of all reports. The Department shall inform the 
investigated hospital or hospital affiliate and any other 
person making a report under subsection (g) of its final 
determination or disposition in writing.
    (n) The Department shall not disclose to the public any 
information regarding any reports and investigations under 
this Section unless and until the report of abuse is 
substantiated following a full and proper investigation.
    (o) All patient identifiable information in any report or 
investigation under this Section shall be confidential and 
shall not be disclosed except as authorized by this Act or 
other applicable law.
    (p) Nothing in this Section relieves a hospital or 
hospital affiliate administrator, employee, agent, or medical 
staff member from contacting appropriate law enforcement 
authorities as required by law.
    (q) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to mean 
that a patient is a victim of abuse because of health care 
services provided or not provided by health care 
professionals.
    (r) Nothing in this Section shall require a hospital or 
hospital affiliate, including its employees, agents, and 
medical staff members, to provide any services to a patient in 
contravention of his or her stated or implied objection 
thereto upon grounds that such services conflict with his or 
her religious beliefs or practices, nor shall such a patient 
be considered abused under this Section for the exercise of 
such beliefs or practices.
    (s) The Department's implementation of this Section is 
subject to appropriations to the Department for that purpose.
    (t) As used in this Section, the following terms have the 
following meanings: 
    "Abuse" means any physical or mental injury or sexual 
abuse intentionally inflicted by a hospital or hospital 
affiliate employee, agent, or medical staff member on a 
patient of the hospital or hospital affiliate and does not 
include any hospital or hospital affiliate, medical, health 
care, or other personal care services done in good faith in the 
interest of the patient according to established medical and 
clinical standards of care.
    "Hospital affiliate" has the meaning given to that term in 
Section 10.8. 
    "Mental injury" means intentionally caused emotional 
distress in a patient from words or gestures that would be 
considered by a reasonable person to be humiliating, 
harassing, or threatening and which causes observable and 
substantial impairment.
    "Sexual abuse" means any intentional act of sexual contact 
or sexual penetration of a patient in the hospital.
    "Substantiated", with respect to a report of abuse, means 
that a preponderance of the evidence indicates that abuse 
occurred.
(Source: P.A. 96-692, eff. 1-1-10.)

Effective Date:  1/1/2025