The attorney general will soon have greater oversight of healthcare transactions, specifically mergers and acquisitions that include healthcare facilities, under a law signed Friday by Gov. JB Pritzker. [Health News Illinois]

The plan, effective next January, will require facilities to notify the attorney general within 30 days of a proposed merger or acquisition. It would also create a state program for premerger notification of healthcare facility mergers.

The office can then determine whether a proposed transaction warrants an investigation and, when necessary, a challenge for anticompetitive conduct.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who advocated for the proposal, has said that while his office works with the federal government to review large-scale transactions, a state-level review will fill gaps that allow mergers to occur without review.

Pritzker also signed into law a plan that mandates healthcare workers to undergo one hour of cultural competency training as part of their licensure cycle. Professionals will need to complete statutorily mandated training every other year, rather than annually, and the law reduces mandated hours of training from three to one. The law will also require every professional to take Alzheimer’s training during their first renewal cycle.

The Illinois Healthcare Cultural Competency Coalition praised the plan, saying it will give providers the “tools and information they need to effectively and affirmingly serve communities of color, people with disabilities, people of diverse faiths, undocumented individuals, LGBTQ+ people, people living with HIV, intersex people, and other communities that have been marginalized in the healthcare system.”

Another new law signed Friday will implement recommendations made earlier this year in the children’s behavioral health blueprint. That includes the establishment of a centralized intake portal to provide families guidance and referrals to state and community-based programs for which they are eligible, the creation of a navigator assistance program and statutory language to pave the way for annual mental health screenings to all K-12 students.

“The need for timely and appropriate care cannot be overstated — families and children need access to services now,” said sponsor Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago. “Soon, parents and providers will be able to rely on this legislation as a roadmap to finally get children the care they need.”

Other new laws will:

·    Allow licensed healthcare professionals — not just physicians — to make disability determinations for an employee receiving duty disability.

·    Require insurance or managed care plans to offer, for an additional premium, coverage for hearing instruments if prescribed by a hearing care professional.

·    Modify the timeline for which nursing program graduates can sit for an exam post-graduation without additional education and training. It also requires registered professional nursing schools to be evaluated for effectiveness over a three-year average.

·    Require insurance coverage for an annual mental health and prevention wellness visit with cost sharing.

·    Allow the Tinley Park–Park District to renovate the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center into a recreation site.

·    Create a task force to look at emergency medical technician training, recruitment and retention.

·    Ensure all preventive care mandates will remain in place.

·    Classify electronic health records and other information included in them, like demographic information, as “private information” and not subject to the Freedom of Information Act for HIPAA-covered private entities.

·    Create a task force to look at ways to make Illinois a “healing-centered or trauma-informed” state, including improved alignment of existing efforts and strategic planning for long-term transformation.

###