103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3714

 

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Aaron M. Ortiz

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
210 ILCS 87/5
210 ILCS 87/10
210 ILCS 87/15

    Amends the Language Assistance Services Act. Provides for the use and availability of qualified medical interpreters (rather than interpreters) in health facilities. Defines "qualified medical interpreters". Provides that employees of a health facility have the right to use a qualified medical interpreter for their own communication with a limited English proficient patient if a conversation between the limited English proficient patient and the employee would be jeopardized by the use of a volunteer interpreter. Requires the facility to annually transmit to the Department of Public Health a copy of the updated policy regarding language assistance services and to include a description of the facility's process to ensure adequate and speedy communication between staff and patients with language or communication barriers. Provides that facilities must prepare and maintain a list of contact information for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter providers or individuals who have been identified as being proficient in sign language, as well as a list of the languages of the population of the geographical area served by the facility. Removes language allowing facilities to consider providing its nonbilingual staff with standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in routine communications with patients who have language or communication barriers. Makes other changes.


LRB103 28876 CPF 55262 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB3714LRB103 28876 CPF 55262 b

1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Language Assistance Services Act is amended
5by changing Sections 5, 10, and 15 as follows:
 
6    (210 ILCS 87/5)
7    Sec. 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds
8and declares that Illinois is becoming a land of people whose
9languages and cultures give the state a global quality. The
10Legislature further finds and declares that access to basic
11health care services is the right of every individual living
12in resident of the State, and that access to information
13regarding basic health care services is an essential element
14of that right.
15    Therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly that
16where language or communication barriers exist between
17patients and the staff of a health facility, arrangements
18shall be made for a qualified medical interpreter in order to
19provide meaningful access for patients, or family members,
20caretakers, or decision makers of patients, who are limited
21English proficient or deaf or hard of hearing interpreters or
22bilingual professional staff to ensure adequate and speedy
23communication between patients and staff.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 88-244.)
 
2    (210 ILCS 87/10)
3    Sec. 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
4    "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
5    "Health facility" means a hospital licensed under the
6Hospital Licensing Act, a long-term care facility licensed
7under the Nursing Home Care Act, or a facility licensed under
8the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, or the
9Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013.
10    "Interpreter" means a person fluent in English and in the
11necessary language of the patient who can accurately speak,
12read, and readily interpret the necessary second language, or
13a person who can accurately sign and read sign language.
14Interpreters shall have the ability to translate the names of
15body parts and to describe completely symptoms and injuries in
16both languages. Interpreters may include members of the
17medical or professional staff.
18    "Language or communication barriers" means either of the
19following:
20        (1) With respect to spoken language, barriers that are
21    experienced by limited-English-speaking or
22    non-English-speaking individuals who speak the same
23    primary language, if those individuals constitute at least
24    5% of the patients served by the health facility annually.
25        (2) With respect to sign language, barriers that are

 

 

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1    experienced by individuals who are deaf and whose primary
2    language is sign language.
3    "Limited English proficient" means a patient, or the
4family member, caretaker, or decision maker of a patient, who
5may have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or
6understand English.
7    "Health facility" means a hospital licensed under the
8Hospital Licensing Act, a long-term care facility licensed
9under the Nursing Home Care Act, or a facility licensed under
10the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, or the
11Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013.
12    "Meaningful access" means the provision of services in a
13manner that is equally accessible and meaningful to all
14individuals seeking services regardless of their ability to
15speak or understand English.
16    "Medical interpreter techniques competency" means:
17        (1) having received training that includes the
18    techniques and ethics of interpreting;
19        (2) the ability to speak, read, write, and understand
20    English as well as another language other than English;
21        (3) having fundamental knowledge in both English and
22    the alternate language of any specialized terms, concepts,
23    and cultural awareness;
24        (4) understanding the role of culture in a health care
25    setting; and
26        (5) abiding by a code of medical interpreter standards

 

 

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1    and professional ethics.
2    "Qualified medical interpreter" means a qualified
3individual with medical interpreter techniques competency to
4provide and facilitate oral communication between 2 or more
5conversing parties that do not speak each other's language and
6who is either proficient in 2 or more languages or an
7interpreter in American Sign Language (ASL) with appropriate
8licensure.
9(Source: P.A. 98-104, eff. 7-22-13; 99-180, eff. 7-29-15.)
 
10    (210 ILCS 87/15)
11    Sec. 15. Language assistance services.
12    (a) To ensure access to health care information and
13services for individuals who are limited English proficient,
14limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking, and deaf or
15hard of hearing residents and deaf residents, a health
16facility must do the following:
17        (1) Adopt and review annually a policy for providing
18    language assistance services to patients with language or
19    communication barriers. The policy shall include
20    procedures for providing, to the extent possible as
21    determined by the facility, the use of a qualified medical
22    an interpreter whenever a language or communication
23    barrier exists, except where the patient, after being
24    informed of the availability of the qualified medical
25    interpreter services service, chooses to use a family

 

 

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1    member or friend who volunteers to interpret, which shall
2    be documented in the patient's medical chart. Employees of
3    a health facility have the right to use a qualified
4    medical interpreter for their own communication with a
5    limited English proficient patient if a conversation
6    between the limited English proficient patient and the
7    employee would be jeopardized by the use of a volunteer
8    interpreter. The procedures shall be designed to maximize
9    efficient use of qualified medical interpreters and
10    minimize delays in the provision of qualified medical
11    providing interpreters to limited English proficient
12    patients. The procedures shall ensure insure, to the
13    extent possible as determined by the facility, that
14    qualified medical interpreters are available, either on
15    the premises or accessible by telephone, 24 hours a day.
16    The facility shall annually transmit to the Department of
17    Public Health a copy of the updated policy regarding
18    language assistance services and shall include a
19    description of the facility's process to ensure adequate
20    and speedy communication between staff and patients with
21    language or communication barriers and shall include a
22    description of the facility's efforts to insure adequate
23    and speedy communication between patients with language or
24    communication barriers and staff.
25        (2) Develop, and post, either by physical or
26    electronic means, in conspicuous locations, notices that

 

 

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1    advise patients and their families of the availability of
2    qualified medical interpreters, the procedure for
3    obtaining a qualified medical an interpreter, and the
4    telephone numbers to call for filing complaints concerning
5    qualified medical interpreter service problems, including,
6    but not limited to, a TTY or video relay service (VRS)
7    number for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The
8    notices shall be posted, at a minimum, in the emergency
9    room, the admitting area, the facility entrance, and the
10    outpatient areas area. Notices shall inform limited
11    English proficient and deaf or hard of hearing patients
12    that qualified medical interpreter services are available
13    upon on request, shall list the languages most commonly
14    encountered at the facility for which qualified medical
15    interpreter services are available, and shall instruct
16    patients to direct complaints regarding qualified medical
17    interpreter services to the Department of Public Health,
18    including the telephone numbers to call for that purpose.
19        (3) Notify the facility's employees of the language
20    assistance services available at the facility and train
21    the employees them on how to access make those language
22    services available for limited English proficient and deaf
23    or hard of hearing to patients.
24    (b) In addition, a health facility may do one or more of
25the following:
26        (1) Identify and record a patient's primary or

 

 

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1    preferred language and dialect on one or more of the
2    following: a patient medical chart, electronic medical
3    record, or hospital bracelet, bedside notice, or nursing
4    card.
5        (2) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of contact
6    information for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter
7    providers or individuals interpreters who have been
8    identified as being as proficient in sign language as a
9    person with a master's level proficient in sign language,
10    according to the Interpreter for the Deaf Licensure Act of
11    2007, as well as and a list of the languages of the
12    population of the geographical area served by the
13    facility.
14        (3) Review all standardized written forms, waivers,
15    documents, and informational materials available to
16    limited English proficient patients on admission to
17    determine documents that may require translation which to
18    translate into languages other than English.
19        (4) (Blank). Consider providing its nonbilingual staff
20    with standardized picture and phrase sheets for use in
21    routine communications with patients who have language or
22    communication barriers.
23        (5) Develop community liaison groups to enable the
24    facility and the limited English proficient
25    limited-English-speaking, non-English-speaking, and deaf
26    or hard of hearing communities to ensure the adequacy of

 

 

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1    the qualified medical interpreter services.
2(Source: P.A. 102-4, eff. 4-27-21.)