093_SB1414enr

 
SB1414 Enrolled                      LRB093 03379 AMC 09887 b

 1        AN ACT to amend the Hospital Licensing Act.

 2        Be  it  enacted  by  the People of the State of Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section 5.  The Hospital  Licensing  Act  is  amended  by
 5    changing Section 6.17 as follows:

 6        (210 ILCS 85/6.17)
 7        Sec.  6.17.   Protection  of  and  confidential access to
 8    medical records and information.
 9        (a) Every hospital licensed under this Act shall  develop
10    a  medical record for each of its patients as required by the
11    Department by rule.
12        (b)  All  information  regarding   a   hospital   patient
13    gathered  by  the hospital's medical staff and its agents and
14    employees shall be the property  and  responsibility  of  the
15    hospital  and must be protected from inappropriate disclosure
16    as provided in this Section.
17        (c)  Every hospital shall preserve its medical records in
18    a format and for a duration established  by  hospital  policy
19    and for not less than 10 years, provided that if the hospital
20    has  been  notified  in  writing  by  an  attorney before the
21    expiration of the 10 year  retention  period  that  there  is
22    litigation  pending  in  court  involving  the  record  of  a
23    particular  patient as possible evidence and that the patient
24    is his client or  is  the  person  who  has  instituted  such
25    litigation against his client, then the hospital shall retain
26    the  record  of that patient until notified in writing by the
27    plaintiff's attorney, with the approval  of  the  defendant's
28    attorney  of  record,  that  the case in court involving such
29    record has been concluded or for a period of  12  years  from
30    the date that the record was produced, whichever occurs first
31    in time.
 
SB1414 Enrolled            -2-       LRB093 03379 AMC 09887 b
 1        (d)  No member of a hospital's medical staff and no agent
 2    or  employee  of  a  hospital  shall  disclose  the nature or
 3    details of services provided to  patients,  except  that  the
 4    information   may   be  disclosed  to  the  patient,  persons
 5    authorized  by  the  patient,  the  party  making   treatment
 6    decisions,  if  the  patient is incapable of making decisions
 7    regarding  the  health  services  provided,   those   parties
 8    directly  involved with providing treatment to the patient or
 9    processing the payment  for  that  treatment,  those  parties
10    responsible  for  peer review, utilization review or, quality
11    assurance, risk management,  or  defense  of  claims  brought
12    against  the  hospital  arising  out  of  the care, and those
13    parties  required  to  be  notified  under  the  Abused   and
14    Neglected   Child   Reporting   Act,  the  Illinois  Sexually
15    Transmissible  Disease  Control  Act,  or   where   otherwise
16    authorized or required by law.
17        (e)   The   hospital's  medical  staff  members  and  the
18    hospital's agents and employees may communicate, at any  time
19    and  in  any  fashion,  with  legal  counsel for the hospital
20    concerning the patient medical record privacy  and  retention
21    requirements  of  this Section and any care or treatment they
22    provided or assisted in providing to any patient  within  the
23    scope of their employment or affiliation with the hospital.
24        (e-5)  Notwithstanding   subsections  (d)  and  (e),  for
25    actions filed on or after January 1, 2004, after a  complaint
26    for  healing  art  malpractice is served upon the hospital or
27    upon its agents  or  employees,  members  of  the  hospital's
28    medical   staff   who  are  not  actual  or  alleged  agents,
29    employees,  or  apparent  agents  of  the  hospital  may  not
30    communicate with legal counsel for the hospital or with  risk
31    management  of  the  hospital concerning the claim alleged in
32    the  complaint  for  healing  art  malpractice  against   the
33    hospital  except  with  the patient's consent or in discovery
34    authorized by the Code of  Civil  Procedure  or  the  Supreme
 
SB1414 Enrolled            -3-       LRB093 03379 AMC 09887 b
 1    Court  rules.   For  the  purposes  of this subsection (e-5),
 2    "hospital"  includes  a  hospital  affiliate  as  defined  in
 3    subsection (b) of Section 10.8 of this Act.
 4        (f)  Each hospital licensed under this Act shall  provide
 5    its  federally  designated  organ  procurement agency and any
 6    tissue bank with which it has an agreement with access to the
 7    medical  records  of  deceased  patients  for  the  following
 8    purposes:
 9             (1)  estimating  the  hospital's  organ  and  tissue
10        donation potential;
11             (2)  identifying  the  educational  needs   of   the
12        hospital with respect to organ and tissue donation; and
13             (3)  identifying  the  number  of  organ  and tissue
14        donations and referrals to  potential  organ  and  tissue
15        donors.
16        (g)  All  hospital  and  patient information, interviews,
17    reports, statements, memoranda, and other  data  obtained  or
18    created  by  a  tissue  bank  or  federally  designated organ
19    procurement agency from the medical records review  described
20    in subsection (f) shall be privileged, strictly confidential,
21    and used only for the purposes put forth in subsection (f) of
22    this  Section  and  shall  not  be admissible as evidence nor
23    discoverable in an action of any kind in court  or  before  a
24    tribunal, board, agency, or person.
25        (h)   Any  person  who, in good faith, acts in accordance
26    with the terms of this Section shall not be  subject  to  any
27    type  of  civil  or  criminal  liability  or  discipline  for
28    unprofessional   conduct   for   those   actions   under  any
29    professional licensing statute.
30        (i) Any individual who  wilfully  or  wantonly  discloses
31    hospital  or  medical record information in violation of this
32    Section is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.  As used in  this
33    subsection,  "wilfully  or wantonly" means a course of action
34    that shows an actual or deliberate intention to cause harm or
 
SB1414 Enrolled            -4-       LRB093 03379 AMC 09887 b
 1    that, if not intentional, shows an utter indifference  to  or
 2    conscious  disregard  for  the  safety  of  others  or  their
 3    property.
 4        (j)  The  changes to this Section made by this amendatory
 5    Act of the 93rd General Assembly apply to any action filed on
 6    or after January 1, 2004.
 7    (Source: P.A. 91-526, eff. 1-1-00.)

 8        Section 99. Effective date.  This  Act  takes  effect  on
 9    January 1, 2004.