Public Act 095-0469
 
SB0015 Enrolled LRB095 08183 KBJ 28349 b

    AN ACT concerning public health.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Prevention and Treatment
Act.
 
    Section 5. Findings and purposes.
    (a) The General Assembly finds all of the following:
        (1) Perinatal mental health disorders, commonly
    referred to as "postpartum depression", include a wide
    range of emotional, psychological, and physiological
    reactions to childbirth, including feelings of
    hopelessness, excessive guilt, sustained sadness,
    inability to feel pleasure, low energy, sleep and appetite
    disturbances, difficulty concentrating, and thoughts of
    death or suicide, which challenge the stamina of a woman
    during pregnancy or after childbirth, and impair her
    ability to function and care for her child.
        (2) Every year, more than 500,000 women experience the
    anxiety, hopelessness, desolation, and fatigue of
    perinatal mental health disorders during pregnancy, in the
    early postpartum months, and into their child's first year
    of life.
        (3) Women at highest risk for perinatal mental health
    disorders can be those with previous mental health
    disorders, such as depression, anxiety or panic disorder,
    and those with a family member with a history of such
    mental health disorders. However, perinatal mental health
    disorders frequently strike without warning in women
    without any past mental health disorders and with or
    without any complications in pregnancy.
        (4) Many women suffering from perinatal mental health
    disorders require counseling and treatment, yet many do not
    realize that they need help or are unable to find and
    secure appropriate resources.
        (5) In addition to the mother, the effects of perinatal
    mental health disorders can also significantly impact the
    infant, as well as the father, other children, and extended
    family members. Perinatal mental health disorders can
    affect the mother's ability to respond sensitively to her
    infant's needs and can strain the family relationships.
    (b) The purpose of this Act is:
        (1) to provide information to women and their families
    about perinatal mental health disorders in order to lower
    the likelihood that new mothers will continue to suffer
    from this illness in silence;
        (2) to develop procedures for assessing women for
    perinatal mental health disorders during prenatal and
    postnatal visits to licensed health care professionals;
    and
        (3) to promote early detection of perinatal mental
    health disorders to promote early care and treatment and,
    when medically appropriate, to avoid medication.
 
    Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
    "Hospital" has the meaning given to that term in the
Hospital Licensing Act.
    "Licensed health care professional" means a physician
licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, an advanced
practice nurse who has a collaborative agreement with a
collaborating physician that authorizes care, or a physician's
assistant who has been delegated authority to provide care.
    "Postnatal care" means an office visit to a licensed health
care professional occurring after birth, with reference to the
infant or mother.
    "Prenatal care" means an office visit to a licensed health
care professional for pregnancy-related care occurring before
birth.
    "Questionnaire" means an assessment tool administered by a
licensed health care professional to detect perinatal mental
health disorders, such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression
Scale, the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale, the Beck
Depression Inventory, the Patient Health Questionnaire, or
other validated assessment methods.
 
    Section 15. Perinatal mental health disorders prevention
and treatment. The Department of Human Services, in conjunction
with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the
Department of Public Health, and the Department of Financial
and Professional Regulation and the Medical Licensing Board,
shall work with hospitals and licensed health care
professionals in this State to develop policies, procedures,
information, and educational materials to meet each of the
following requirements concerning perinatal mental health
disorders:
        (1) Licensed health care professionals providing
    prenatal care to women shall provide education to women
    and, if possible and with permission, to their families
    about perinatal mental health disorders in accordance with
    the formal opinions and recommendations of the American
    College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
        (2) All hospitals that provide labor and delivery
    services in the State shall provide new mothers, prior to
    discharge following childbirth, and, if possible, shall
    provide fathers and other family members with complete
    information about perinatal mental health disorders,
    including its symptoms, methods of coping with the illness,
    and treatment resources. The Department of Human Services
    shall provide written information that hospitals may use to
    satisfy this subsection (2).
        (3) Licensed health care professionals providing
    prenatal care at a prenatal visit shall invite each
    pregnant patient to complete a questionnaire and shall
    review the completed questionnaire in accordance with the
    formal opinions and recommendations of the American
    College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Assessment for
    perinatal mental health disorders must be repeated when, in
    the professional judgment of the licensed health care
    professional, a reasonable possibility exists that the
    woman suffers from perinatal mental health disorders.
        (4) Licensed health care professionals providing
    postnatal care to women shall invite each patient to
    complete a questionnaire and shall review the completed
    questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and
    recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians
    and Gynecologists.
        (5) Licensed health care professionals providing
    pediatric care to an infant shall invite the infant's
    mother to complete a questionnaire at any well-baby
    check-up at which the mother is present prior to the
    infant's first birthday, and shall review the completed
    questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and
    recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians
    and Gynecologists, in order to ensure that the health and
    well-being of the infant are not compromised by an
    undiagnosed perinatal mental health disorder in the
    mother. In order to share results from an assessment with
    the mother's primary licensed health care professional,
    consent should be obtained from the mother in accordance
    with the Illinois Health Insurance Portability and
    Accountability Act. If the mother is determined to present
    an acute danger to herself or someone else, consent is not
    required.