Healthcare

Amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act. Provides that interstate data sharing agreements shall be mutual. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall only share data if the reciprocal state provides the opportunity to access data from the reciprocating state to licensed healthcare entities and application vendors regardless of their method of connection to the Prescription Monitoring Program for interstate data sharing as defined in administrative rule. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act concerning the Prescription Monitoring Program. Provides that interstate data sharing agreements shall be mutual. Provides that the Department of Human Services shall only share data if the reciprocal state provides equal access to data of the reciprocating state to all authorized users, licensed health care entities, and application vendors regardless of their method of connection to the Prescription Monitoring Program for interstate data sharing. Effective immediately.

Creates the Holistic Overdose Prevention and Equity Act. Creates the Harm Reduction Program Board, with certain requirements. Provides that the Department of Public Health shall issue grants to harm reduction providers, with certain requirements. Establishes a Chief Harm Reduction Officer within the Department. Provides for a place-based approach to harm reduction pilot program. Provides for local government training and continuing education. Provides that naloxone shall be made readily available to all staff and individuals in prisons and jails, with certain requirements. Provides for medication for opioid use disorder and fentanyl testing. Restricts the use of abstinence-only or sobriety requirements to housing, with certain requirements. Limits home rule powers. Makes findings. Defines terms. Amends the Department of Professional Regulation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois, the Counties Code, the County Jail Act, the Unified Code of Corrections, the Hospital Licensing Act, and the Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act to make conforming changes.

Amends the Substance Use Disorder Act. Requires the Department of Human Services to establish a mechanism to collect research and data regarding overdose prevention sites (OPSs) and prepare a report for the General Assembly within 12 months after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the report shall contain information on (1) current research on the effectiveness of an OPS as an overdose prevention strategy; (2) OPS best practices for staffing, placement, and activities; and (3) the benefits and challenges of different OPS models - structures and settings. Requires the Department, in collaboration with people with lived experience, to develop a pilot service, subject to available funding, aimed at saving the lives of people who use substances that shall include the establishment of at least one OPS. Requires the pilot OPSs to offer people, who are most likely to use drugs in public, unobserved, high-risk, and unsanitary locations, a safe space to use pre-obtained substances and connect to community supports or other existing treatment and recovery programs, harm reduction services, and health care. Contains provisions concerning certain principles pilot OPSs must abide by; OPS staffing and location requirements; pilot OPS services; and other matters. Permits the Department to approve an entity to operate a pilot program in one or more jurisdictions. Grants criminal and civil immunity to persons who use pilot OPSs services; pilot OPS staff; and any real property owner upon which the OPS site is located or operates. Contains provisions on public awareness outreach; OPS reporting requirements; home rule exemption; and other matters. Effective immediately.

Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Requires the Department of Public Health to establish the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program to award grants from the Abortion Access Fund to support access to abortion care services throughout the State. Provides that grants awarded under the Program shall only be used to fund abortion services for which the use of federal funds is prohibited for patients who are uninsured or underinsured with respect to those services. Allows the Department to establish rules necessary to implement the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program, including eligibility criteria, grant limits, application standards, requirements for the distribution and obligation of grant funds, accounting for the use of the funds, and standards for monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Program. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Abortion Access Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Amends the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Law. Requires specified health insurance issuers that have offered one or more qualified health plans through the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange to report to the Department of Insurance an accounting of receipts, disbursements, transfers of funds between accounts, total dollar claims paid, accrued interest, and the year-end balance for each reporting year for the separate allocation accounts that the issuer has established under specified provisions of federal law for abortion services for which federal funding is prohibited. Establishes further reporting requirements for health insurance issuers. Provides that, if the amount of premiums collected during the plan year for abortion services for which federal funding is prohibited exceeds total claims paid for such services rendered during the plan year, the Director of Insurance shall order the health insurance issuer to transfer funds, and the issuer shall complete the transfer, to the Abortion Access Fund. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. In a provision requiring policies of group accident and health insurance to provide coverage for certain examination and testing services provided to a victim of specified criminal offenses, prohibits the policy from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on the coverage provided, except to the extent that the coverage would disqualify a high-deductible health plan from eligibility for a health savings account under the Internal Revenue Code. Effective January 1, 2026.

Opposes Illinois Senate Bill 3572 (SB3572). Opposes any effort to punish women for accessing reproductive healthcare, efforts to subject survivors of rape and incest to more severe punishments than a rapist, and efforts to restrict access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other forms of assisted reproductive technology.

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Provides that a group or individual policy of accident and health insurance or a managed care plan that is amended, delivered, issued, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, shall provide coverage for medically necessary prescribed vitamins. Amends the State Employee Group Insurance Act of 1971, the Health Maintenance Organization Act, the Limited Health Service Organization Act, the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act, and the Illinois Public Aid Code to require coverage under those provisions.

Amends the Nursing Home Care Act and the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act. Requires the Department of Public Health to hold semiannual joint training sessions for surveyors, nursing home providers, and assisted living establishment providers. Provides that the Department shall include the State long-term care ombudsman, or the State long-term care ombudsman's designee, and representatives of each nursing home provider association and assisted living provider association in the State in the planning process to create the topics and content of the joint training sessions as well as the coordination and presentations for the joint training sessions. Provides that, at least annually, a joint training session shall include, but not be limited to, regional citation patterns relating to complaints, standards, and outcomes in the nursing home and assisted living survey process. Requires the Department to develop standardized training for establishments to prevent common citations in the assisted living survey process.

Urges the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Pritzker Administration to delay cuts to Direct Service Professional (DSP) service hours set to begin January 1,2026, until such time as the State is prepared to implement the "Zero Hour" Staffing Model, to protect the services depended on by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).