A new law, the Illinois Adverse Health Care Events Reporting Law of 2005, requires hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (“ASC”) to report certain serious adverse health care events to the Illinois Department of Public Health (the “Department”).  The  purpose of this law is to establish a health care reporting system to facilitate quality improvement within the state’s health care system.  The law enumerates certain adverse events which must be reported within 30 days of discovery, such as: surgery on a wrong body part; death following surgery on a previously healthy patient; patient death or disability associated with the use of a contaminated device or drug; patient suicide or attempted suicide while an inpatient in a facility, medication errors resulting in death or disability; patient falls resulting in death or disability; and maternal death or disability associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy.  

        The reports may be filed electronically in a prescribed form and must identify the facility where the event occurred, but not the names of the patients, employees or health care providers involved.  Following the occurrence of an adverse event, the health care facility must conduct a root cause analysis of the event.  Following the analysis, the health care facility must (1) implement a corrective action plan to address the findings of the analysis or (2) report to the Department any reasons for not taking corrective action.  A copy of the findings of the root cause analysis and a copy of the corrective action plan must be filed with the Department within 90 days after the submission of the report to the Department.  After its review, the Department will communicate its recommendations to the facility.  An annual report of adverse events will be issued that will describe the events reported by facility and recommendations for modification of state health care operations.  This report will be available to the public.  However, the findings of root cause analyses and other records created by the Department will not be discoverable.   

        Hospitals and ASCs must have their reporting system fully operational by January 1, 2008. The Hospital Licensing Act was amended to provide for notice and hearing if a hospital does not comply with the reporting law.  In the event that a hospital is found to have substantially failed to comply with the law, the hospital’s license to operate may be suspended or revoked.  An ASC that fails to comply with the law may be assessed up to $500 per violation per day until the violation is corrected or action is undertaken to suspend or revoke its license to operate, whichever comes first.