Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for HB1332

Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Provides that a hospital licensed under the Act must, at the time a patient is being checked in, give the patient an opportunity to designate an emergency contact to be notified if the patient dies or experiences a significant change in condition. If an emergency contact is designated, hospital staff must communicate with the emergency contact and ask whether the emergency contact would prefer to be notified by telephone call, by hospital staff when the emergency contact reaches the hospital, or by some other method.

Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable Act. Changes the short title to the Emergency Contact and Caregiver Act. Makes changes to defined terms. Provides that, following the patient's admission into the hospital as an inpatient, a hospital shall provide each patient or, if applicable, the patient's legal representative with an opportunity to designate an emergency contact and the opportunity to authorize the hospital to share the patient's protected health information with the emergency contact. Requires a hospital, if authorized by the patient when the emergency contact was designated, to provide notice to the patient's designated emergency contact of the patient's death or if the patient's condition has become life threatening. Limits the liability of hospitals who attempt to contact an emergency contact. Makes conforming changes.

Replaces everything after the enacting clause with the provisions of the bill, as amended by House Amendment No. 1, with the following changes. Changes the short title to the Emergency Contact and Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable Act. Makes changes to defined terms. Provides that, following the patient's admission into the hospital as an inpatient, a hospital shall provide each patient or, if applicable, the patient's legal representative with an opportunity to designate a caregiver following the patient's admission into the hospital as an inpatient and prior to the patient's discharge (rather than only prior to the patient's discharge) to the patient's residence or transfer to another facility. Requires a hospital, as soon as practicable, to notify the emergency contact of the patient's death (rather than notify a patient's emergency contact of the patient's death or if the patient's condition has become life threatening) if a patient has authorized the hospital to share protected health information with an emergency contact that is not the patient's legal representative and the patient's legal representative does not object. Limits the liability of hospitals who attempt to contact an emergency contact. Removes provisions concerning failure to contact the patient's emergency contact. Provides that, if a patient fails to authorize the hospital to share the patient's protected health information or revokes such authorization, the hospital may contact the emergency contact only as otherwise allowed by law. Makes other changes.

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