Legislative Update: HEALTH

Volume 10, Issue 10, June 28, 2007

The Illinois General Assembly has considered hundreds of health-related bills this session. While the session has not ended due to disagreements over the budget, many bills have passed both the House and the Senate and are awaiting Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s signature. The following are a few of those bills that have a direct impact on women.

Senate Bill 15: Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act

The purpose of Senate Bill 15 is
·    to give information to women and their families about perinatal mental health disorders to lower the likelihood that new mothers will continue to suffer from this illness in silence;
·    to develop procedures in assessing women for perinatal mental health disorders during prenatal and postnatal visits to licensed health care professionals; and
·    to promote early detection of perinatal mental health disorders and early care and treatment and, when medically appropriate, to avoid medication.

The bill requires collaboration among the Department of Human Services, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the Medical Licensing Board, and hospital and licensed health care professionals to develop policies, procedures, information, and educational materials concerning perinatal mental health disorders.

The Department of Human Services will issue a questionnaire to pregnant patients at a prenatal doctor’s visit, women at postnatal care appointments, and women at well-baby checkup within the first year of the child’s birth. The questionnaire is an assessment tool administered by a licensed health care professional to detect perinatal mental health disorders. The completed questionnaires will be reviewed and evaluated in accordance with the formal opinions and recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Senate Bill 340: Elder Abuse and Neglect Act

The Elder Abuse and Neglect Act amends the Illinois Act on the Aging, which was initially passed to establish a program of services to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of people 60 and older in need of long-term care or people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder. The preventive services enable the target population to remain in their own homes or in other living arrangements and may include home health services, home nursing services, homemaker services, chore and housekeeping services, adult day services, home-delivered meals, and education in self-care.

The amendment requires the Department on Aging to appoint to its Community Care Program Advisory Committee representatives of provider, advocacy, policy research, and constituencies committed to the delivery of high-quality home and community-based services to older adults.

Senate Bill 731: Sexual Assault Education Program and Women with Disabilities

Senate Bill 731 amends the Department of Human Services Act by adding a provision for a sexual assault education program. The legislation requires the Department of Human Services to conduct a comprehensive study of the needs of women who have disabilities and reside in the community as well as structured living environments regarding sexual assault and the threat of sexual violence. The study will include a needs assessment in the first year with input from women with disabilities, service providers, and advocacy organizations. Ultimately the study will inform the development and implementation of educational programs for women with disabilities—information on possible indicators of sexual assault, the rights of victims of sexual assault, and any resources that serve survivors of sexual violence.

Senate Bill 1365: Health Insurance Coverage for Mammograms for Women Under 40

Senate Bill 1365 amends the Illinois Insurance Code by expanding the eligibility requirements of insurers for women under 40 receiving low-dose mammography exams. With the passage of the bill, women under 40 will be eligible for insurance-covered mammograms if they have a personal history of breast cancer or positive genetic testing for breast-cancer risk. Women will be entitled to a comprehensive ultrasound screening of an entire breast or breasts if a mammogram demonstrates heterogeneous or dense breast tissue.

Senate Bill 1618: Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act Amendments

The amendments to the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act will improve sexual assault survivors’ access to critical health care in emergency rooms and after emergency room visits. Follow-up health care by sexual assault providers will be reimbursed, increasing the likelihood that survivors will receive such care. The amendments ensure that uninsured survivors will not be required to pay for such care—services will be paid by the Illinois Sexual Assault Emergency Treatment program if the survivor is not covered by insurance or Medicaid.

Every hospital that is required to be licensed by the Department of Public Health and provides general medical and surgical hospital services must provide either transfer services or hospital emergency services and forensic services to all sexual assault survivors who apply for them. If the Department of Public Health finds that a hospital is not in compliance, the hospital will receive a list of noncompliance items within 10 working days after an on-site review. The hospital will then have 10 days to submit a plan of correction to the Department of Public Health. If the plan to correct the noncompliance items is deemed unacceptable, however, the hospital will have another 10 working days to resubmit its plan of correction.

The amendments change the language of the minimum requirements for hospitals providing emergency services and forensic services to victims of sexual assault to include
·    an amount of medication for treatment at the hospital and after discharge;
·    an evaluation of the sexual assault survivor’s risk of contracting HIV from the assault;
·    referral by hospital personnel for appropriate counseling;
·    access to HIV prophylaxis when appropriate; and
·    timely follow-up health care.
Every hospital, health care professional, laboratory, or pharmacy that provides follow-up health care to a sexual assault survivor will be reimbursed for the follow-up health care services provided.

House Bill 147: Health Insurance Coverage for Clinical Breast Examinations

The amendments in House Bill 147 require all health insurance providers in Illinois to cover complete and thorough clinical breast examinations at least every three years for women between 20 and 40 years of age and annually for women 40 or older.

House Bill 1759: Perinatal HIV Prevention Act Amendments

Current law requires every health care professional who provides health care services to a pregnant woman (including labor and delivery if not already provided during pregnancy), to provide HIV counseling and recommend HIV testing, unless she has already received an HIV test during pregnancy. The woman’s affirmative consent was necessary to do the HIV testing. House Bill 1759 requires the testing unless she declines in writing or if she has already received an HIV test during pregnancy. The counseling, offer of testing, and whether the woman accepted or declined testing will now be documented in the woman’s medical file. The bill mandates that consent for HIV testing is established when a pregnant woman signs a general consent form for prenatal or medical care if it includes specific information regarding HIV testing and the option to decline testing in writing.

Every health care facility caring for a newborn infant whose mother had been diagnosed HIV positive before labor and delivery must report a case of perinatal HIV exposure in accordance with the HIV/AIDS Registry Act and the Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act. If the newborn infant is determined not to have HIV or AIDS after 18 months, then the Department of Public Health removes the infant’s name from all reports, records, and files collected under relevant Acts.

For more information, contact Wendy Pollack, director of the Women’s Law & Policy Project at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, at 312-263-3830 ext. 238 or wendypollack@povertylaw.org.