Public Act 096-0572
 		





HB2388 Enrolled
LRB096 09993 DRJ 20157 b






    AN ACT concerning aging.

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


 
    Section 5. The Elder Abuse and Neglect Act is amended  by 
changing Sections 2 and 3 as follows:
 



    (320 ILCS 20/2)  (from Ch. 23, par. 6602)


    Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the 
context
requires otherwise:

    (a) "Abuse" means causing any physical, mental or sexual 
injury to an
eligible adult, including exploitation of such 
adult's financial resources.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that an 
eligible adult is a
victim of abuse, neglect, or self-neglect 
for the sole reason that he or she is being
furnished with or 
relies upon treatment by spiritual means through prayer
alone, 
in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized 
church
or religious denomination.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that an 
eligible adult is a
victim of abuse because of health care 
services provided or not provided by
licensed health care 
professionals.

    (a-5) "Abuser" means a person who abuses, neglects, or 
financially
exploits an eligible adult.

    (a-7) "Caregiver" means a person who either as a result of 
a family
relationship, voluntarily, or in exchange for 
compensation has assumed
responsibility for all or a portion of 
the care of an eligible adult who needs
assistance with 
activities of daily
living.

    (b) "Department" means the Department on Aging of the State 
of Illinois.

    (c) "Director" means the Director of the Department.

    (d) "Domestic living situation" means a residence where the 
eligible
adult lives alone or with his or her family or a 
caregiver, or others,
or a board and care home or other 
community-based unlicensed facility, but
is not:


        (1) A licensed facility as defined in Section 1-113 of 
    the Nursing Home
Care Act;


        (2) A "life care facility" as defined in the Life Care 
    Facilities Act;


        (3) A home, institution, or other place operated by the 
    federal
government or agency thereof or by the State of 
    Illinois;


        (4) A hospital, sanitarium, or other institution, the 
    principal activity
or business of which is the diagnosis, 
    care, and treatment of human illness
through the 
    maintenance and operation of organized facilities 
    therefor,
which is required to be licensed under the 
    Hospital Licensing Act;


        (5) A "community living facility" as defined in the 
    Community Living
Facilities Licensing Act;


        (6) A "community residential alternative" as defined 
    in the Community
Residential Alternatives Licensing Act;


        (7) A "community-integrated living arrangement" as 
    defined in
the Community-Integrated Living Arrangements 
    Licensure and Certification Act;

        (8) An assisted living or shared housing establishment 
    as defined in the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act; 
    or

        (9) A supportive living facility as described in 
    Section 5-5.01a of the Illinois Public Aid Code.

    (e) "Eligible adult" means a person 60 years of age or 
older who
resides in a domestic living situation and is, or is 
alleged
to be, abused, neglected, or financially exploited by 
another individual or who neglects himself or herself.

    (f) "Emergency" means a situation in which an eligible 
adult is living
in conditions presenting a risk of death or 
physical, mental or sexual
injury and the provider agency has 
reason to believe the eligible adult is
unable to
consent to 
services which would alleviate that risk.

    (f-5) "Mandated reporter" means any of the following 
persons
while engaged in carrying out their professional 
duties:


        (1) a professional or professional's delegate while 
    engaged in: (i) social
services, (ii) law enforcement, 
    (iii) education, (iv) the care of an eligible
adult or 
    eligible adults, or (v) any of the occupations required to 
    be licensed
under
the Clinical Psychologist Licensing Act, 
    the Clinical Social Work and Social
Work Practice Act, the 
    Illinois Dental Practice Act, the Dietetic and Nutrition

    Services Practice Act, the Marriage and Family Therapy 
    Licensing Act, the
Medical Practice Act of 1987, the 
    Naprapathic Practice Act, the
Nurse Practice Act, the 
    Nursing Home
Administrators Licensing and
Disciplinary 
    Act, the Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act, the 
    Illinois
Optometric Practice Act of 1987, the Pharmacy 
    Practice Act, the
Illinois Physical Therapy Act, the 
    Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987,
the Podiatric 
    Medical Practice Act of 1987, the Respiratory Care Practice

    Act,
the Professional Counselor and
Clinical Professional 
    Counselor Licensing Act, the Illinois Speech-Language

    Pathology and Audiology Practice Act, the Veterinary 
    Medicine and Surgery
Practice Act of 2004, and the Illinois 
    Public Accounting Act;


        (2) an employee of a vocational rehabilitation 
    facility prescribed or
supervised by the Department of 
    Human Services;


        (3) an administrator, employee, or person providing 
    services in or through
an unlicensed community based 
    facility;


        (4) any religious practitioner who provides treatment 
    by prayer or spiritual means alone in accordance with the 
    tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious 
    denomination, except as to information received in any 
    confession or sacred communication enjoined by the 
    discipline of the religious denomination to be held 
    confidential;


        (5) field personnel of the Department of Healthcare and 
    Family Services, Department of Public
Health, and 
    Department of Human Services, and any county or
municipal 
    health department;


        (6) personnel of the Department of Human Services, the 
    Guardianship and
Advocacy Commission, the State Fire 
    Marshal, local fire departments, the
Department on Aging 
    and its subsidiary Area Agencies on Aging and provider

    agencies, and the Office of State Long Term Care Ombudsman;


        (7) any employee of the State of Illinois not otherwise 
    specified herein
who is involved in providing services to 
    eligible adults, including
professionals providing medical 
    or rehabilitation services and all
other persons having 
    direct contact with eligible adults;


        (8) a person who performs the duties of a coroner
or 
    medical examiner; or


        (9) a person who performs the duties of a paramedic or 
    an emergency
medical
technician.

    (g) "Neglect" means
another individual's failure to 
provide an eligible
adult with or willful withholding from an 
eligible adult the necessities of
life including, but not 
limited to, food, clothing, shelter or health care.
This 
subsection does not create any new affirmative duty to provide 
support to
eligible adults.  Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to mean that an
eligible adult is a victim of neglect 
because of health care services provided
or not provided by 
licensed health care professionals.

    (h) "Provider agency" means any public or nonprofit agency 
in a planning
and service area appointed by the regional 
administrative agency with prior
approval by the Department on 
Aging to receive and assess reports of
alleged or suspected 
abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation.

    (i) "Regional administrative agency" means any public or 
nonprofit
agency in a planning and service area so designated 
by the Department,
provided that the designated Area Agency on 
Aging shall be designated the
regional administrative agency if 
it so requests.
The Department shall assume the functions of 
the regional administrative
agency for any planning and service 
area where another agency is not so
designated.

    (i-5) "Self-neglect" means a condition that is the result 
of an eligible adult's inability, due to physical or mental 
impairments, or both, or a diminished capacity, to perform 
essential self-care tasks that substantially threaten his or 
her own health, including: providing essential food, clothing, 
shelter, and health care; and obtaining goods and services 
necessary to maintain physical health, mental health, 
emotional well-being, and general safety. The term includes 
compulsive hoarding, which is characterized by the acquisition 
and retention of large quantities of items and materials that 
produce an extensively cluttered living space, which 
significantly impairs the performance of essential self-care 
tasks or otherwise substantially threatens life or safety.

    (j) "Substantiated case" means a reported case of alleged 
or suspected
abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or 
self-neglect in which a provider agency,
after assessment, 
determines that there is reason to believe abuse,
neglect, or 
financial exploitation has occurred.

(Source: P.A. 94-1064, eff. 1-1-07; 95-639, eff. 10-5-07; 
95-689, eff. 10-29-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)

 


    (320 ILCS 20/3)  (from Ch. 23, par. 6603)



    Sec. 3. Responsibilities. 

    (a) The Department shall establish,
design and manage a 
program of response and services for persons 60 years
of age 
and
older who have been, or are alleged to be, victims of 
abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, or self-neglect.  The 
Department
shall contract with or fund or, contract with and 
fund, regional
administrative
agencies, provider
agencies, or 
both, for the provision of those
functions, and, contingent on 
adequate funding, with attorneys or legal
services provider 
agencies for the
provision of legal assistance pursuant to this 
Act. The program shall include the following services for 
eligible adults who have been removed from their residences for 
the purpose of cleanup or repairs: temporary housing; 
counseling; and caseworker services to try to ensure that the 
conditions necessitating the removal do not reoccur. 

    (b) Each regional administrative agency shall designate 
provider
agencies within its planning and service area with 
prior approval by the
Department on Aging, monitor the use of 
services, provide technical
assistance to the provider 
agencies and be involved in program development
activities.

    (c) Provider agencies shall assist, to the extent possible, 
eligible
adults who need agency
services to allow them to 
continue to function independently.  Such
assistance shall 
include but not be limited to receiving reports of alleged
or 
suspected abuse, neglect, financial exploitation,
or 
self-neglect, conducting face-to-face assessments of
such 
reported cases, determination of substantiated cases, referral 
of
substantiated cases for necessary support services,

referral of criminal conduct to law enforcement in accordance 
with Department
guidelines,
and provision of case
work and 
follow-up services on substantiated cases. In the case of a 
report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect that places an 
eligible adult at risk of injury or death, a provider agency 
shall respond to the report on an emergency basis in accordance 
with guidelines established by the Department by 
administrative rule and shall ensure that it is capable of 
responding to such a report 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. 
A provider agency may use an on-call system to respond to 
reports of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect after hours 
and on weekends.


    (d) By January 1, 2008, the Department on Aging, in 
cooperation with  an Elder Self-Neglect Steering Committee, 
shall by rule develop protocols, procedures, and policies for 
(i) responding to reports of possible self-neglect, (ii) 
protecting the autonomy, rights, privacy, and privileges of 
adults during investigations of possible self-neglect and 
consequential judicial proceedings regarding competency, (iii) 
collecting and sharing relevant information and data among the 
Department, provider agencies, regional administrative 
agencies, and relevant seniors, (iv) developing working 
agreements between provider agencies and law enforcement, 
where practicable, and (v) developing procedures for 
collecting data regarding incidents of self-neglect.  The Elder 
Self-Neglect Steering Committee shall be comprised of one 
person selected by the Elder Abuse Advisory Committee of the 
Department on Aging; 3 persons selected, on the request of the 
Director of Aging, by State or regional organizations that 
advocate for the rights of seniors, at least one of whom shall 
be a legal assistance attorney who represents seniors in 
competency proceedings; 2 persons selected, on the request of 
the Director of Aging, by statewide organizations that 
represent social workers and other persons who provide direct 
intervention and care to housebound seniors who are likely to 
neglect themselves; an expert on geropsychiatry, appointed by 
the Secretary of Human Services; an expert on issues of 
physical health associated with seniors, appointed by the 
Director of Public Health; one representative of a law 
enforcement agency; one representative of the Chicago 
Department on Aging; and 3 other persons selected by the 
Director of Aging, including an expert from an institution of 
higher education who is familiar with the relevant areas of 
data collection and study.

(Source: P.A. 94-1064, eff. 1-1-07; 95-76, eff. 6-1-08.)