Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB2896
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Full Text of HB2896  101st General Assembly

HB2896enr 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
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1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Department of Public Health Powers and
5Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is
6amended by adding Section 2310-213 as follows:
 
7    (20 ILCS 2310/2310-213 new)
8    Sec. 2310-213. Diversity in Health Care Professions Task
9Force.
10    (a) The Diversity in Health Care Professions Task Force is
11created. The Director shall serve as the chairperson and shall
12appoint the following members to the Task Force, licensed to
13practice in their respective fields in Illinois:
14        (1) 2 dentists.
15        (2) 2 medical doctors.
16        (3) 2 nurses.
17        (4) 2 optometrists.
18        (5) 2 pharmacists.
19        (6) 2 physician assistants.
20        (7) 2 podiatrists.
21        (8) 2 public health practitioners.
22    (b) The Task Force has the following objectives:
23        (1) Minority students pursuing medicine or healthcare

 

 

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1    as a career option. The goal is to diversify the health
2    care workforce by engaging students, parents, and the
3    community to build an infrastructure that assists students
4    in developing the skills necessary for careers in
5    healthcare.
6        (2) Establishing a mentee/mentor relationship with
7    current healthcare professionals and students, utilizing
8    social media to communicate important messages and success
9    stories, and holding a conference related to diversity and
10    inclusion in healthcare professions.
11        (3) Early employment and support, including (i)
12    researching and leveraging best practices, including
13    recruitment, retention, orientation, workplace diversity,
14    and inclusion training, (ii) identifying barriers to
15    inclusion and retention, and (iii) proposing solutions.
16        (4) Healthcare leadership and succession planning,
17    including:
18            (A) providing education, resources and tool kits
19        to fully support, implement, and cultivate diversity
20        and inclusion in Illinois health-related professions
21        through coordination of resources from professional
22        health care leadership organizations;
23            (B) developing healthy work environments,
24        leadership training on culture, diversity, and
25        inclusion; and
26            (C) obtaining workforce development concentrated

 

 

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1        on graduate and post-graduate education and succession
2        planning.
3    (c) The Task Force may collaborate with policy makers,
4medical and specialty societies, national minority
5organizations, and other groups to achieve greater diversity in
6medicine and the health professions.
7    The Task Force's priorities are:
8        (1) Affirmative action programs should be designed to
9    promote the entry of racial and ethnic minority students
10    into medical school, as well as other specialized training
11    programs for other health professions.
12        (2) Recruitment activities should support and advocate
13    for the full spectrum of racial, ethnic, and cultural
14    diversity, including language, national origin, and
15    religion within the healthcare profession. These
16    activities should maintain the high quality of the health
17    care workforce and encourage individuals from all
18    backgrounds to enter careers in healthcare.
19        (3) Recruitment and academic preparations of
20    underrepresented minority students should begin in
21    elementary school and continue through the entire scope of
22    their education and professional formation. Efforts to
23    recruit minority students into the various health care
24    professions should be targeted appropriately at each
25    educational level.
26        (4) Financial incentives should be increased to

 

 

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1    minority students, including federal funding for diversity
2    programs, such as Title VII funding, loan forgiveness or
3    repayment programs, and tuition reimbursement.
4        (5) Enhancing diversity within the healthcare
5    workforce will require a commitment at the highest levels.
6    To put this commitment into practice, educational and
7    healthcare institutions, medical organizations, and other
8    relevant bodies should hire staff who are responsible
9    solely for the implementation, management, and evaluation
10    of diversity programs and who are accountable to the
11    organizational leadership. These programs should be
12    integrated into the organization's operations and provided
13    with an infrastructure adequate to implement and measure
14    the effectiveness of their activities.
15        (6) Institutional commitments to improve workforce
16    diversity must include a formal program or mechanism to
17    ensure that racial, ethnic, and cultural minority
18    individuals rise to leadership positions at all levels.
19        (7) Organizations with a stake in enhancing workforce
20    diversity should implement systems to track data and
21    information on race, ethnicity, and other cultural
22    attributes.
23    (d) Task Force members shall serve without compensation but
24may be reimbursed for their expenses incurred in performing
25their duties. The Task Force shall meet at least quarterly and
26at other times as called by the chairperson.

 

 

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1    (e) The Department of Public Health shall provide
2administrative and other support to the Task Force.
3    (f) The Task Force shall prepare a report that summarizes
4its work and makes recommendations resulting from its study.
5The Task Force shall submit the report of its findings and
6recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by
7December 1, 2020 and annually thereafter.