Creates the Department of Health Professional Regulation Act. Creates the Department of Health Professional Regulation as a department of State government. Transfers to the Department of Health Professional Regulation all of the functions of the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in connection with specified professional regulatory Acts concerning the provision of health care. Provides for the transfer of employees, books and records, and unexpended appropriations from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to the Department of Health Professional Regulation. Contains other provisions to implement the transfer of functions from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to the Department of Health Professional Regulation. Amends the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois and various professional regulatory Acts to make conforming changes. Effective July 1, 2005.
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Amends the Medical Practice Act of 1987. Changes the period of time within which certain disciplinary action proceedings concerning licensure under the Act must be commenced from 3 years to 5 years and provides that, except for actions based on grounds concerning cheating on or attempting to subvert licensing examinations, practicing under a false or an assumed name, and fraud or misrepresentation in applying for, procuring, or renewing a license, actions must be commenced within 8 years (rather than 5 years). Provides for the public release of individual profiles on persons licensed under the Act, including information relating to criminal charges, administrative disciplinary actions, hospital privilege revocations, and medical malpractice awards. Provides that a physician may elect to include certain information in his or her profile. Provides that certain information collected for physician profiles is not confidential. Provides that, when collecting information or compiling reports intended to compare physicians, the Disciplinary Board shall require that only the most basic identifying information from mandatory reports may be used, and details about a patient or personal details about a physician that are not already a matter of public record through another source must not be released. Effective immediately.
Creates the Hospital Billing and Collection Practices Act, which applies only to hospitals that receive public moneys. Provides that a hospital may not give a collection agency or attorney blanket authorization to take legal action against the hospital's patients for the collection of medical debt, including by means of garnishment or wage deduction, and requires a hospital to verify certain information before taking such action. Imposes other limitations in connection with a hospital's debt collection practices, including the referral of patients' accounts to a collection agency. Requires a hospital to train collection agencies and attorneys with whom it contracts for the collection of medical debt concerning the hospital's charity care policy. Requires a hospital to adopt and implement policies and procedures to ensure the timely and accurate submission of claims to third party payors. Requires a hospital to adopt a process for patients to question or dispute bills, and requires implementation of a system to record patient complaints received by a hospital's billing office. Contains provisions concerning billing uninsured patients. Amends the University of Illinois Hospital Act, the Hospital Licensing Act, and the Code of Civil Procedure to make conforming changes. Effective January 1, 2006.
Creates the Certified Professional Midwife Licensure Act. Provides for licensure of persons providing midwifery services. Amends the Regulatory Sunset Act to repeal the new Act on January 1, 2016. Amends the Medical Practice Act of 1987 and the Nursing and Advanced Practice Nursing Act to provide that those Acts do not prohibit the practice of midwifery by persons licensed under the Certified Professional Midwives Licensure Act. Effective immediately.
Creates the Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act. Provides that every hospital must implement a staffing plan that: (1) provides adequate, appropriate, and quality delivery of health care services and protects patient safety; and (2) is consistent with the requirements of the Act concerning minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratios. Sets forth minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratios, according to the type of hospital unit. Provides that the Department of Public Health may apply those minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratios to another type of hospital unit if that other unit performs a function similar to the function performed by the unit referred to in the minimum ratio standards. Provides that the minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratios do not apply during a declared state of emergency if a hospital is requested or expected to provide an exceptional level of emergency or other medical services. Effective immediately.
Creates the Healthy Illinois Act. Establishes the Healthy Illinois Authority to arrange for the provision of comprehensive, affordable health care coverage to eligible businesses, the self-employed, and eligible individuals on a voluntary basis through the Healthy Illinois Plan. Sets forth powers and duties of the Authority. Creates the Healthy Illinois Authority Fund. Creates the Healthy Illinois Plan to provide health benefits coverage. Requires contributions to the costs of the plan by employers and enrollees. Provides for subsidies and uncompensated care savings payments. Creates the Healthy Illinois Quality Forum and sets forth duties of the Forum. Requires the Authority to create the Health Resource Plan to set forth a comprehensive and coordinated approach to the development of health care resources and facilities in the State. Provides for a voluntary system of cost and resource restraint by health practitioners, hospitals, and insurers. Amends the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act to include definitions of "limited service provider" and "Health Resource Plan" and to require the Health Facilities Planning Board to take into account the Health Resource Plan when developing health care facility plans. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Healthy Illinois Authority Fund. Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Sets forth requirements for making health insurance rates. Amends the Illinois Antitrust Act to subject health insurers to the provisions of that Act. Effective immediately.
Appropriates $1,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the State Board of Education for autism programs. Effective July 1, 2006.
Amends the Managed Care Reform and Patient Rights Act. Requires health care plans to provide certain information on participating physicians to enrollees and prospective enrollees. Requires the removal of physicians who are deceased or are no longer practicing medicine from the list. Requires health care plans to provide periodic updates of physician listings with new and corrected information in printed form and on the plan's Internet website.
Amends the Personnel Code. Establishes a preference in an entrance examination of 5 points for a person if: (i) he or she has been discharged from a prison of this State; (ii) he or she has been wrongfully accused of a crime for which he or she was imprisoned; and (iii) a court of competent jurisdiction finds that the evidence that resulted in his or her conviction was erroneous or that new evidence indicates that the person did not commit the crime for which he or she was imprisoned. Amends the Court of Claims Act. Grants the court exclusive jurisdiction over claims for time unjustly served when the person was wrongfully accused of the crime for which he or she was imprisoned and a court of competent jurisdiction finds that the evidence that resulted in his or her conviction was erroneous or that new evidence indicates that the person did not commit the crime for which he or she was imprisoned (instead of jurisdiction where the persons shall receive a pardon by the Governor stating that such pardon is issued on the ground of innocence of the crime for which they were imprisoned). Increases the maximum statutory awards to a person released from prison because of these factors. Effective immediately.
Amends the School Code. Provides that a student may not be expelled, except (i) for any criminal offense for which a sentence to the Department of Corrections may be imposed or (ii) when the student is determined to have brought a weapon to school, any school-sponsored activity, or an activity or event that bears a reasonable relationship to school.