Three recent changes to Illinois law require hospitals to both develop policies and procedures that they may not currently have in place, and provide and/or offer certain types of care in particular circumstances. These laws include: changes to the Language Assistance Services Act (LASA); Public Act 95-469 (the Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act (PMHDPTA)); and Public Act 95-432 (amends the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act (SASETA)).

Language Assistance
Effective October 11, 2007 hospitals must provide certain language assistance services to limited-English-proficient and/or deaf patients. LASA requires hospitals to adopt and review annually a policy for providing language assistance services to patients with language or communication barriers. The policy is to include procedures for providing, to the extent possible, the use of an interpreter whenever a language or communication barrier exists. An exception exists where the patient, after being informed of the availability of an interpreter service, chooses to use a family member or friend for such service. The procedures set forth in the policy are to ensure, to the extent possible, that interpreters are available either on the premises or by telephone 24 hours a day. The hospital must transmit a copy of the updated policy annually to the Illinois Department of Public Health, along with a description of the facility’s efforts to insure adequate and speedy communication between patients with language or communication barriers and staff.

In addition, the hospital must post notices in conspicuous locations that advise patients and their families of the availability of interpreters, the procedure for obtaining an interpreter and the telephone numbers to call for filing complaints concerning interpreter services problems, including a TTY number for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. At a minimum, these notices must be placed in the hospital’s emergency department, admitting area, entrance and outpatient area and are to: indicate that interpreter services are available on request, list the languages most commonly encountered at the facility for which interpreter services are available, and instruct patients to direct complaints to the Illinois Department of Public Health at 1-800-252-4343.

Although not required, LASA also encourages hospitals to:

(1) identify and record a patient’s primary language and dialect on the individual’s medical chart, hospital bracelet, bedside notice or nursing card;

(2) prepare and maintain a list of interpreters and the languages of the population in the area served by the hospital;

(3) review all standardized written forms, waivers, documents and informational materials available to patients on admission to determine which to translate into languages other than English;

(4) consider providing their nonbilingual staff with standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in routing communications with patients with language or communication barriers; and

(5) develop community liaison groups to enable the hospital and the limited English speaking and deaf communities to insure the adequacy of interpreter services.

We encourage hospitals with frequent admissions of limited-English-speaking patients to adopt these discretionary procedures, and for hospitals in geographic areas where providing interpreters may be a challenge to focus on ways to assure speedy interpretive service through, at a minimum, telephonic means (when person-to-person is not available) if at all possible. We also encourage hospitals to educate their staffs that while a patient’s family members may be a means to communicate with the patient, the relative ability of the family member to understand, assess and interpret the medical information provided should be evaluated. If it is deemed an interpreter would be more effective, one should be sought out.

Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act
The new amendments to SASETA require hospitals to provide either transfer services or hospital emergency services and forensic services to survivors of sexual assault. “Forensic services” means the collection of evidence using the Illinois State Police Evidence Collection Kit. Hospitals must submit a plan to the Illinois Department of Public Health that describes how they will either transfer or treat sexual assault survivors. These plans must be updated and resubmitted every three years.

Upon appropriate order, a treating hospital must:

(1) provide a medical examination and laboratory tests required to ensure the survivor’s health, safety and welfare;

(2) maintain records and test results and make them available to law enforcement officials upon the survivor’s request;

(3) provide the survivor with appropriate oral and written information about the possibility of infection and sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy;

(4) provide the survivor with information regarding accepted medical procedures, medication and contraindications of medication for the prevention of infection or disease;

(5) dispense medication as deemed appropriate by the attending physician, APA or PA consistent with hospital’s approved protocol for sexual assault survivors;

(6) document an evaluation of the survivor’s risk of contracting HIV, along with written and oral instructions indicating the need for follow-up examinations and testing

(7) provide the survivor with a referral for counseling; and

(8) when appropriate, provide the survivor with HIV prophylaxis along with written and oral instructions regarding the importance of timely follow-up health care.

The amendments also provide a mechanism for state reimbursement for hospitals that provide treatment for those sexual assault survivors who are uninsured and unable to pay. The law states that hospitals shall not charge the survivor under these circumstances, but must submit the bill for services to the Illinois Sexual Assault Emergency Treatment Program. Follow-up care is likewise covered by the state.

Provisions of SASETA which state that a minor need not obtain parental consent for service, as well as provisions regarding evidence collection and emergency contraception remain unchanged. The amendments to SASETA take effect January 1, 2008.

Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act
PMHDPTA is a new law also effective January 1, 2008. It requires that hospitals which provide labor and delivery services must provide information about perinatal mental health disorders, including symptoms, methods of coping with the illness, and treatment resources, to the new mother prior to discharge. If possible, the information must also be provided to fathers and other family members as well. Policies should be developed and staff should be instructed on how to offer this information. Unless and until further direction is provided, hospitals can comply with PMHDPTA’s information-providing requirements by giving recipients a specified brochure published by the Illinois Department of Human Services.

For further information, please contact your regular Hinshaw attorney.

This alert has been prepared by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. It is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship.