Healthcare

Amends the Medicaid Technical Assistance Act. Requires the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center to collaborate with public and private partners throughout the State to identify, establish, and maintain best practices necessary for health providers to ensure their capacity to participate in the Illinois Medical Assistance Program (rather than ensure their capacity to participate in HealthChoice Illinois or YouthCare). Requires the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center to promote equitable delivery systems, remaining committed to the principle that all Medicaid recipients have accessible and equitable physical and mental health care services. Removes provisions concerning the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center's administration of network adequacy reports, and instead requires the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center to administer a network recruitment plan. Provides that by using reports and data provided by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ External Quality Review Organization on network adequacy, provider service deserts, and health care disparities by race and ethnicity, the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center shall propose for Department review and approval an annual plan for recruiting providers to participate in the Illinois Medical Assistance Program and report on outcomes of its recruitment efforts to the Department for continuous improvement. Repeals a provision requiring the Department to maximize federal financial participation for any moneys appropriated to the Department for the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center and to deposit all federal financial participation funds into the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund. Repeals a provision creating the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund. Amends the State Finance Act. Provides for the dissolution of the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund on July 1, 2026, or as soon thereafter as practical, after the transfer of all remaining funds into the Healthcare Provider Relief Fund. Effective July 1, 2026.

Amends the Substance Use Disorder Treatment for Criminal Justice Clients Article of the Substance Use Disorder Act. Changes references from "treatment" to "case management" and changes the name of the Article. Provides that nothing in provisions concerning case management shall preclude any individual with a substance use disorder who is charged with or convicted of a crime from receiving case management services with a designated program if such services are ordered by the court. Provides that the court, with the consent of the defendant and the State's Attorney, may, without entering a judgment, sentence the defendant to probation under a provision concerning case management as a condition of probation. Provides that the sentence to probation under the provisions shall not be considered a conviction under Illinois law unless and until judgment is entered upon violation of a term or condition of probation. Provides that, upon fulfillment of the terms and conditions of probation, the court shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings against the person. Provides that case management services by a designated program may be made a condition of pretrial release, and failure to comply with such services may be treated as a violation of a condition of pretrial release. Requires the designated program to make periodic progress reports regarding each such defendant to the appropriate pretrial services agency or Office of Statewide Pretrial Services and to report failures to comply with the requirements of the designated program. Makes conforming and other changes.

Amends the School Code. Requires each school district that offers one or more courses in health education to pupils in middle school or high school to include in those courses instruction in mental health. Sets forth the required instruction topics and materials. Provides that a pupil receiving instruction under in mental health shall not be required to disclose the pupil's confidential health or mental health information at any time in the course of receiving the instruction.

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).