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91_SB0541enr SB541 Enrolled LRB9104979ACtm 1 AN ACT to amend the Hospital Licensing Act by changing 2 Section 6.17. 3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 4 represented in the General Assembly: 5 Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by 6 changing Section 6.17 as follows: 7 (210 ILCS 85/6.17) 8 Sec. 6.17. Protection of and confidential access to 9 medical records and information. 10 (a) Every hospital licensed under this Act shall develop 11 a medical record for each of its patients as required by the 12 Department by rule. 13 (b) All information regarding a hospital patient 14 gathered by the hospital's medical staff and its agents and 15 employees shall be the property and responsibility of the 16 hospital and must be protected from inappropriate disclosure 17 as provided in this Section. 18 (c) Every hospital shall preserve its medical records in 19 a format and for a duration established by hospital policy 20 and for not less than 10 years, provided that if the hospital 21 has been notified in writing by an attorney before the 22 expiration of the 10 year retention period that there is 23 litigation pending in court involving the record of a 24 particular patient as possible evidence and that the patient 25 is his client or is the person who has instituted such 26 litigation against his client, then the hospital shall retain 27 the record of that patient until notified in writing by the 28 plaintiff's attorney, with the approval of the defendant's 29 attorney of record, that the case in court involving such 30 record has been concluded or for a period of 12 years from 31 the date that the record was produced, whichever occurs first SB541 Enrolled -2- LRB9104979ACtm 1 in time. 2 (d) No member of a hospital's medical staff and no agent 3 or employee of a hospital shall disclose the nature or 4 details of services provided to patients, except that the 5 information may be disclosed to the patient, persons 6 authorized by the patient, the party making treatment 7 decisions, if the patient is incapable of making decisions 8 regarding the health services provided, those parties 9 directly involved with providing treatment to the patient or 10 processing the payment for that treatment, those parties 11 responsible for peer review, utilization review, quality 12 assurance, risk management or defense of claims brought 13 against the hospital arising out of the care, and those 14 parties required to be notified under the Abused and 15 Neglected Child Reporting Act, the Illinois Sexually 16 Transmissible Disease Control Act, or where otherwise 17 authorized or required by law. 18 (e) The hospital's medical staff members and the 19 hospital's agents and employees may communicate, at any time 20 and in any fashion, with legal counsel for the hospital 21 concerning the patient medical record privacy and retention 22 requirements of this Section and any care or treatment they 23 provided or assisted in providing to any patient within the 24 scope of their employment or affiliation with the hospital. 25 (f)(a)Each hospital licensed under this Act shall 26 provide its federally designated organ procurement agency and 27 any tissue bank with which it has an agreement with access to 28 the medical records of deceased patients for the following 29 purposes: 30 (1) estimating the hospital's organ and tissue 31 donation potential; 32 (2) identifying the educational needs of the 33 hospital with respect to organ and tissue donation; and 34 (3) identifying the number of organ and tissue SB541 Enrolled -3- LRB9104979ACtm 1 donations and referrals to potential organ and tissue 2 donors. 3 (g)(b)All hospital and patient information, 4 interviews, reports, statements, memoranda, and other data 5 obtained or created by a tissue bank or federally designated 6 organ procurement agency from the medical records review 7 described in subsection (f)(a)shall be privileged, strictly 8 confidential, and used only for the purposes put forth in 9 subsection (f)(a)of this Section and shall not be 10 admissible as evidence nor discoverable in an action of any 11 kind in court or before a tribunal, board, agency, or person. 12 (h)(c)Any person who, in good faith, acts in 13 accordance with the terms of this Section shall not be 14 subject to any type of civil or criminal liability or 15 discipline for unprofessional conduct for those actions. 16 (i) Any individual who wilfully or wantonly discloses 17 hospital or medical record information in violation of this 18 Section is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. As used in this 19 subsection, "wilfully or wantonly" means a course of action 20 that shows an actual or deliberate intention to cause harm or 21 that, if not intentional, shows an utter indifference to or 22 conscious disregard for the safety of others or their 23 property. 24 (Source: P.A. 89-393, eff. 8-20-95.)