Bill Amendment: IL HB3714 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly
NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List
Bill Title: LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES
Status: 2024-04-19 - House Floor Amendment No. 1 Rule 19(c) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB3714 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-HB3714-House_Amendment_001.html
Bill Title: LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES
Status: 2024-04-19 - House Floor Amendment No. 1 Rule 19(c) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB3714 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-HB3714-House_Amendment_001.html
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1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3714
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2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3714 by replacing | ||||||
3 | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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4 | "Section 5. The Language Assistance Services Act is | ||||||
5 | amended by changing Sections 5, 10, and 15 as follows:
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6 | (210 ILCS 87/5)
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7 | Sec. 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds | ||||||
8 | and declares
that Illinois is becoming a land
of people whose | ||||||
9 | languages and cultures give the state a global quality. The
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10 | Legislature further finds and declares that access to basic | ||||||
11 | health care
services is the right of every individual living | ||||||
12 | in resident of the State, and that access to
information | ||||||
13 | regarding basic health care services is an essential element | ||||||
14 | of
that right.
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15 | Therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly that | ||||||
16 | where language or
communication barriers exist between |
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1 | patients and the staff of a health
facility, arrangements | ||||||
2 | shall be made for a qualified medical interpreter in order to | ||||||
3 | provide meaningful access for patients, or family members, | ||||||
4 | caretakers, or decision makers of patients, who are limited | ||||||
5 | English proficient or deaf or hard of hearing interpreters or | ||||||
6 | bilingual
professional staff to ensure adequate and speedy | ||||||
7 | communication between patients
and staff .
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8 | (Source: P.A. 88-244.)
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9 | (210 ILCS 87/10)
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10 | Sec. 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
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11 | "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
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12 | "Health facility" means a hospital licensed under the | ||||||
13 | Hospital Licensing Act, a long-term care facility licensed | ||||||
14 | under the Nursing Home Care Act, or a facility licensed under | ||||||
15 | the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, or the | ||||||
16 | Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013. | ||||||
17 | "Interpreter" means a person fluent in English and in the | ||||||
18 | necessary
language of the patient who can accurately speak, | ||||||
19 | read, and readily interpret
the necessary second language, or | ||||||
20 | a person who can accurately sign and read
sign language. | ||||||
21 | Interpreters shall have the ability to translate the names of
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22 | body parts and to describe completely symptoms and injuries in | ||||||
23 | both languages.
Interpreters may include members of the | ||||||
24 | medical or professional staff.
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25 | "Language or communication barriers" means either of the |
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1 | following:
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2 | (1) With respect to spoken language, barriers that are | ||||||
3 | experienced by
limited-English-speaking or | ||||||
4 | non-English-speaking
individuals who speak the same
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5 | primary language, if those individuals constitute at least | ||||||
6 | 5% of the
patients served by the health facility annually.
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7 | (2) With respect to sign language, barriers that are | ||||||
8 | experienced by
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing | ||||||
9 | and whose primary language is sign language.
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10 | "Limited English proficient" means a patient, or the | ||||||
11 | family member, caretaker, or decision maker of a patient, who | ||||||
12 | may have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or | ||||||
13 | understand English. | ||||||
14 | "Health facility" means a hospital licensed under the | ||||||
15 | Hospital Licensing Act,
a long-term care facility licensed | ||||||
16 | under the Nursing Home Care Act, or a facility licensed under | ||||||
17 | the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, or the | ||||||
18 | Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013. | ||||||
19 | "Meaningful access" means the provision of services in a | ||||||
20 | manner that is equally accessible and meaningful to all | ||||||
21 | individuals seeking services regardless of their ability to | ||||||
22 | speak or understand English. | ||||||
23 | "Medical interpreter techniques competency" means: | ||||||
24 | (1) having received training that includes the | ||||||
25 | techniques and ethics of interpreting; | ||||||
26 | (2) the ability to speak, read, write, and understand |
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1 | English as well as another language other than English; | ||||||
2 | (3) having fundamental knowledge in both English and | ||||||
3 | the alternate language of any specialized terms, concepts, | ||||||
4 | and cultural awareness; | ||||||
5 | (4) understanding the role of culture in a health care | ||||||
6 | setting; and | ||||||
7 | (5) abiding by a code of medical interpreter standards | ||||||
8 | and professional ethics. | ||||||
9 | "Qualified medical interpreter" means a qualified | ||||||
10 | individual with medical interpreter techniques competency to | ||||||
11 | provide and facilitate oral communication between 2 or more | ||||||
12 | conversing parties that do not speak each other's language and | ||||||
13 | who is either proficient in 2 or more languages or an | ||||||
14 | interpreter in American Sign Language (ASL) with appropriate | ||||||
15 | licensure.
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16 | (Source: P.A. 98-104, eff. 7-22-13; 99-180, eff. 7-29-15.)
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17 | (210 ILCS 87/15)
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18 | Sec. 15. Language assistance services. | ||||||
19 | (a) To ensure access to
health care information and | ||||||
20 | services for individuals who are limited English proficient,
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21 | limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking , and deaf or
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22 | hard of hearing residents and deaf residents,
a health | ||||||
23 | facility must do the following:
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24 | (1) Adopt and review annually a policy for providing | ||||||
25 | language assistance
services to patients with language or |
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1 | communication barriers. The policy shall
include | ||||||
2 | procedures for providing, to the extent possible as | ||||||
3 | determined by the
facility, the use of a qualified medical | ||||||
4 | an interpreter whenever a language or communication
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5 | barrier
exists, except where the patient, after being | ||||||
6 | informed of the availability of
the qualified medical | ||||||
7 | interpreter services service , chooses to use a family | ||||||
8 | member or friend who
volunteers to interpret , which shall | ||||||
9 | be documented in the patient's medical chart. Employees of | ||||||
10 | a health facility have the right to use a qualified | ||||||
11 | medical interpreter for their own communication with a | ||||||
12 | limited English proficient patient if a conversation | ||||||
13 | between the limited English proficient patient and the | ||||||
14 | employee would be jeopardized by the use of the patient's | ||||||
15 | volunteer interpreter . The procedures shall be designed to | ||||||
16 | maximize
efficient use of qualified medical interpreters | ||||||
17 | and minimize delays in the provision of qualified medical | ||||||
18 | providing interpreters to limited English proficient
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19 | patients. The procedures shall ensure insure , to the | ||||||
20 | extent possible as determined
by the facility, that | ||||||
21 | qualified medical
interpreters are available, either | ||||||
22 | in-person on the premises or accessible remotely by | ||||||
23 | telephone,
24 hours a day. The facility shall annually | ||||||
24 | transmit to the Department of
Public Health a
copy of the | ||||||
25 | updated policy regarding
language assistance services and | ||||||
26 | shall include a
description of the facility's process to |
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1 | ensure adequate
and speedy communication between staff and | ||||||
2 | patients with
language or communication barriers and shall | ||||||
3 | include a description of the facility's
efforts to
insure | ||||||
4 | adequate and speedy communication between patients with | ||||||
5 | language or
communication barriers and staff .
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6 | (2) Develop, and post, either by physical or | ||||||
7 | electronic means, in conspicuous locations, notices that | ||||||
8 | advise patients
and their families of the availability of | ||||||
9 | qualified medical interpreters, the procedure for
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10 | obtaining a qualified medical an interpreter, and the | ||||||
11 | telephone numbers to call for filing
complaints concerning | ||||||
12 | qualified medical interpreter service problems, including, | ||||||
13 | but not limited
to, a
TTY or
video relay service (VRS) | ||||||
14 | number for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The | ||||||
15 | notices shall be posted, at a
minimum, in the emergency | ||||||
16 | room, the admitting area, the facility entrance, and
the
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17 | outpatient areas area . Notices shall inform limited | ||||||
18 | English proficient and deaf or hard
of hearing patients | ||||||
19 | that qualified medical interpreter services are
available | ||||||
20 | upon on request, shall list the languages most commonly | ||||||
21 | encountered at the facility for which qualified medical | ||||||
22 | interpreter services
are available, and shall instruct | ||||||
23 | patients to direct complaints regarding qualified medical
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24 | interpreter services to the Department of Public Health, | ||||||
25 | including the
telephone
numbers to call for that purpose.
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26 | (3) Notify the facility's employees of the language |
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1 | assistance services available at the facility and train | ||||||
2 | the employees them on how to access make those language | ||||||
3 | services available for limited English proficient and deaf
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4 | or hard of hearing to patients. | ||||||
5 | (4) If qualified medical interpreters of a specific | ||||||
6 | language are limited in availability, the health facility | ||||||
7 | shall not have fines and penalties imposed. Qualified | ||||||
8 | medical interpreters are limited in availability if a | ||||||
9 | facility attempts to contact at least 3 agencies offering | ||||||
10 | interpretation services, the agencies are unable to | ||||||
11 | provide qualified medical interpreters for the requested | ||||||
12 | language, and the facility documents the date, time, and | ||||||
13 | result of each attempt to acquire a qualified medical | ||||||
14 | interpreter for the patient's language. | ||||||
15 | (5) If a health facility contracts with a third party | ||||||
16 | for medical interpreter services and the third party | ||||||
17 | attests to the status of the provided interpreters as | ||||||
18 | qualified medical interpreters, then the health facility | ||||||
19 | shall not have fines and penalties imposed related to the | ||||||
20 | qualifications of the interpreter.
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21 | (b) In addition, a health facility may do one or more of | ||||||
22 | the following: | ||||||
23 | (1) Identify and record a patient's primary or
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24 | preferred language and dialect on one or more of the | ||||||
25 | following: a patient medical chart, electronic medical
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26 | record, or hospital bracelet, bedside notice , or nursing |
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1 | card . | ||||||
2 | (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of contact
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3 | information for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter
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4 | providers or individuals interpreters who have been | ||||||
5 | identified as being as proficient in sign language as a
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6 | person with a master's level proficient in sign language, | ||||||
7 | according to the Interpreter for the Deaf Licensure Act of | ||||||
8 | 2007 , as well as and a list of the languages of the | ||||||
9 | population of the geographical area served by the | ||||||
10 | facility.
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11 | (3) Review all standardized written forms, waivers, | ||||||
12 | documents, and
informational materials available to | ||||||
13 | limited English proficient patients on admission to | ||||||
14 | determine documents that may require translation which
to | ||||||
15 | translate into languages other than English .
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16 | (4) (Blank). Consider providing its nonbilingual staff | ||||||
17 | with standardized picture and
phrase sheets for use in | ||||||
18 | routine communications with patients who have language
or | ||||||
19 | communication barriers.
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20 | (5) Develop community liaison groups to enable the | ||||||
21 | facility and the limited English proficient
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22 | limited-English-speaking, non-English-speaking, and deaf | ||||||
23 | or hard of hearing communities to ensure
the adequacy of | ||||||
24 | the qualified medical
interpreter services.
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25 | (Source: P.A. 102-4, eff. 4-27-21.)".
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