Demographic Information
Illinois is a large, diverse state. It is currently the sixth most populous state in the nation and was home to 12.7 million residents in 2019. The Chicago metro area is home to 9.5 million people, 2.7 million of whom reside within the city. Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third largest in the country. From 2012-2018, Illinois lost 1.33% of its population; during this same time period, the only other states to experience population loss were Connecticut and West Virginia. Notably, other large states, like Texas, California, and Florida, experienced increases in population during that time. Only nine out of the 102 counties in Illinois recorded population increases from 2010-2018. The counties with the largest population declines were mostly in the western and southern regions of Illinois.
In 2018, nearly 1 in 4 (22.4%) Illinois residents were under age 18 — a total of approximately 2.9 million children. Approximately 6% of the total population, more than 750,000 children, is under the age of 5.The fertility and birth rates in Illinois are slightly lower than the national averages, but higher than several other large states, such as Florida and California.
Geographic Considerations
Illinois’ population is concentrated in Cook County (which includes the city of Chicago) and the surrounding collar counties. In addition to diverse and urban Chicago, Illinois is home to many small and mid-sized cities. Twelve cities in the state, including Joliet, Rockford, and Aurora, have more than 75,000 residents.
By land mass, Illinois is largely rural. More than two-thirds of its 102 counties are classified as non-metropolitan, and approximately 1.5 million Illinoisans live in rural communities. Reflecting a larger long-term national trend, all rural areas in Illinois have decreased in population since 2012. Rural communities in Illinois are largely concentrated in the southern and western parts of the state.
In planning for the care and well-being of Illinois’ maternal and child health population, the IL Title V and its partners must balance the needs of a large and diverse urban center, several mid-sized cities with unique populations and care delivery systems, and a large rural area with limited geographic access to services.
Education
In 2017, approximately 89% of Illinois adults were high school graduates and 33% were college graduates. Educational achievement is not evenly distributed in the state. Only 84% of adults in Chicago are high school graduates, indicating the need for increased educational focus in this city. Illinois also suffers from racial disparities in educational achievement. Twenty-one percent (21%) of non-Hispanic Blacks and 14% of Latinos have graduated from college, compared with 37% of non-Hispanic Whites. The rates of high school and college graduation are slightly higher in Illinois than in the U.S.
Racial and Ethnic Diversity
Illinois is diverse in terms of racial/ethnic makeup of the population. In 2017, the majority (62%) of the Illinois population was non‐Hispanic White. Non-Hispanic Blacks comprise 14% of the population, and Latinos of all ethnicities account for 17%.
Cook County is more racially diverse than the state overall. In 2017 in Cook County, only 43% of the population was non‐Hispanic White, while non-Hispanic Blacks comprised 23% and Latinos comprised 25%. Within the city of Chicago, this diversity is even more pronounced: 29% were non‐Hispanic White, 30% were non-Hispanic Black, 29% were Latino, and 6% were Asian. So, while Illinois is more racially homogenous than other large states, the concentration pockets of racial minorities in the Chicago area presents unique challenges for culturally competent health care delivery.
Illinois has a significant population born outside the United States. In 2017, approximately 14% of Illinois residents were foreign born. Most of these foreign‐born residents (51%) are not U.S. citizens. Foreign-born Illinoisans come primarily from Latin America, with a sizeable Asian population as well. Reflecting this large immigrant population, more than 23% of Illinoisans speak a language other than English at home, with Spanish being the most common other language. Cook County has a higher percentage of foreign‐born residents and non‐English speakers than the rest of the state.
Employment and Income
In 2013-2017, 65% of Illinois adults were in the civilian labor force — meaning that they were working or wanted to be working. In 2018, Illinois had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.6%. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the non-adjusted employment rate rose from 4.1% in June 2019 to 14.6% in June 2020. During 2021, Illinois has experienced some economic recovery, with unemployment rates falling to 6.7% in May 2021. The longer-term economic ramifications of the pandemic are not yet known, but there is concern for how the economic downturn will affect women, children, and families.
Most Illinois residents were in occupations categorized as management/professional (38%) or sales/office (24%). The per capita income in Illinois in 2013‐2017 was $32,924, compared to a national average of $31,177. Incomes are generally higher in Cook County, with a per capita income of $33,722. Illinois’ per capita income was higher than that in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, but lower than that of New York and California.
Poverty and Housing
In 2017, 13% of all Illinoisans lived below the federal poverty line (FPL). Children are more likely to live in poverty. Seventeen percent (17%) of children under 18 years old and 18.8% of children younger than 5 years old lived in poverty. Poverty in Illinois is more common in Cook County, and specifically in the city of Chicago. In Cook County in 2017, 14% of the total population and 20% of children lived in poverty; in Chicago, 19% of the total population and 27% of children lived in poverty. Of all Illinois households in 2017, 13% received food stamps and 2% received cash assistance.
Living in a female‐headed household is strongly associated with poverty in Illinois. While 9% of all families were impoverished, 26% of female‐headed households in 2017 had incomes below the FPL. This increases for households with children; 35% of female‐headed households with children under 18 years old and 40% of female‐headed households with children under 5 years old were impoverished. Mothers, and especially unmarried mothers, are very likely to live in poverty. Nearly half (45%) of unmarried women who gave birth in the last 12 months lived in poverty, compared to only 10% of married new mothers.
In Illinois in 2017, 66% of housing units were owner‐occupied. This is a higher rate than in many other large states. However, there is a large racial disparity in home ownership; in the Chicago metropolitan area, 74% of White householders own their home, while only 39% of Black householders do. For those families that rent a home, the high cost of rental housing is a concern. In 2017, 45% of families renting a home spent more than 30% of their income on rent. Low‐income families are especially at risk for rental costs that consume large proportions of their household income.
Key Health Indicators
According to America’s Health Rankings for 2019, Illinois ranked 26th out of the 50 states on combined measures of health determinants, behaviors, and outcomes. Illinois demonstrated strength on measures such as vaccinations for children (9th), supply of primary care physicians (10th) and dentists (11th), and a low rate of people experiencing frequent physical distress (10th) or mental distress (11th). Illinois did poorly when compared to other states on indictors such as excessive drinking (41st), rate of chlamydia infections (42nd), and air pollution (48th). For birth outcome indicators, Illinois tended to rank in the middle of the states, coming in at 31st for infant mortality and 29th for low birth weight. The report also indicates some positive trends in Illinois, including a decrease in child poverty over the last five years (20% vs. 16%), a decrease in violent crime since 1990, and an 18% increase in supply of mental health providers in the last two years. Unfortunately, there have also been some trends in the negative direction, including a 63% increase in drug-related deaths over the last five years, and a 19% increase in chlamydia infections over the last four years.
Maternal and women’s health in Illinois present both strengths and challenges. Most Illinois women are accessing important health care services; about 3 in 4 women of reproductive age received at least one preventative visit in the last year and 3 in 4 pregnant women received prenatal care beginning in the first trimester. In recent years, the maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity rates have improved slightly overall, however, they continue to show increasing racial disparities. In Illinois, non-Hispanic Black mothers are about twice as likely to experience a severe maternal morbidity and more than four times as likely to die as non-Hispanic White mothers.
Illinois has worked hard to improve the health of infants and perinatal women over time. Illinois women are more likely than ever to deliver in a risk-appropriate care setting; more than 82% of Illinois’ very low birth weight infants are born in a hospital with a level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There has also been a modest, steady progress on infant mortality outcomes in Illinois. Over the last five years, there has been a small reduction in perinatal mortality, neonatal mortality, and preterm-related mortality. However, infant mortality has fluctuated during the last five-year period with no substantial change, and there has been a slight increase in post neonatal mortality.
Accessible and high-quality preventive care is essential to the health and well-being of Illinois’ children and adolescents. While 89% of children in Illinois are reported by their parents to be in excellent or very good health, this is the ninth lowest rate in the country, demonstrating that Illinois Title V has ample opportunity to improve overall child health. Traditionally, Illinois has been a national leader in childhood insurance coverage with only about 4% of Illinois children in 2016 being uninsured. In recent years, however, Illinois has lost ground. Illinois is ranked 17th out of the 50 states on this measure. Access to services is a challenge among both insured and uninsured children. Nearly half of children in 2018-2019 with a diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition did not receive any treatment for their condition. Mental health and suicide prevention remain a top priority in the state. The adolescent suicide rate has steadily risen since 2012 and, in the 2017-2019 estimate, Illinois’ adolescent suicide rate is the eighth highest in the country.
The State’s Unique Strengths and Challenges
Illinois has many resources that strengthen and support its capacity to impact the health status of women and children. When all the services provided through IDPH and other state agencies are considered, Illinois has a robust set of services for women and children, including CYSHCN. These interventions are supported by an appropriate set of state statutes and regulations. Illinois also has seven colleges of medicine and a college of osteopathy, three dental schools, and numerous colleges for allied health sciences. These institutions are accompanied by large systems of care, including outpatient settings. Illinois also has nine children’s hospitals and many family practice, pediatric primary care, and specialty care providers. Finally, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health has one of the United States’ 13 Centers of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (CoE-MCH). The state’s Title V has an intragovernmental agreement with the UIC CoE-MCH to provide ongoing epidemiological and data support, and IDPH routinely hosts student interns from this program.
Even with these resources, Illinois faces challenges in the improvement of women’s and children’s health. Most of Illinois outside of Cook County and the counties that surround it are health provider shortage areas for primary, dental, and mental health services.
Poverty and inequity have resulted in racial and ethnic disparities in health status. It is important to acknowledge racism as a driving force of the social determinants of health and as a barrier to achieving health equity and optimal health for all people. The impact of racism on health outcomes is particularly important for Illinois as it is a racially and ethnically diverse state but remains very segregated. Chicago is consistently ranked as one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States.
Illinois Department of Public Health Roles and Responsibilities
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is one of the longest standing state agencies, established in 1877 as the State Board of Health. It now has headquarters in Springfield and Chicago, seven regional offices, three laboratories, and more than 1,100 employees. IDPH houses more than 200 public health programs covering the spectrum of diseases/conditions and the entirety of the life course. IDPH’s vision is that "communities of Illinois will achieve and maintain optimal health and safety" and the mission is to “protect the health and wellness of the people in Illinois through the prevention, health promotion, regulation, and the control of disease and injury.”
The Office of Women's Health and Family Services (OWHFS) is one of six programmatic offices with IDPH. The deputy director reports directly to IDPH director (State Health Officer). OWHFS houses three divisions: Division of Maternal, Child, and Family Services, Division of Women's Health, and Division of Population Health Management. These divisions work together closely to support women’s and family health across the lifespan. The IL Title V sits within the Division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health Services, with the Title V MCH director also serving as the division chief.
Illinois’ System of Care
Population Served
Illinois’ IL Title V covers the full range of the “MCH population,” including women of child‐bearing age, pregnant women, infants, children, adolescents, and CYSHCN. Responsibility for the MCH Program in Illinois is spread across three agencies: IDPH, UIC‐DSCC, and DHS. IDPH administers the MCH Block Grant and MCH programming across the state, while UIC-DSCC primarily focuses on statewide CYSHCN programming; and DHS oversees many of the direct service MCH statewide programs (e.g., the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children [WIC], home visiting).
IL Title V provides approximately $4.5 million annually to the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Maternal, Infant, Child, and Adolescent Health Bureau to implement comprehensive, effective, and innovative programming aligned with the state’s Title V priorities for residents of Chicago, the state’s largest city.
Health Services Infrastructure
Perinatal Levels of Care
Perinatal regionalization is a strategy to organize risk-appropriate services for pregnant women and neonates according to their medical complexity and needs. Currently, 105 Illinois hospitals have a designation for a perinatal level of care, granted by IDPH, which outlines the populations of infants that can be cared for by the facility and the resources and personnel necessary to provide this care. Each birthing hospital is assigned to one of 10 administrative perinatal centers (APC), which provides ongoing training, technical support, and consultation on complex medical issues, as well as helps to coordinate and assure the transport of women or neonates between facilities. Illinois Title V supports the APCs and regulates perinatal designations according to Illinois’ Perinatal Administrative Code.
Children’s Hospitals
Illinois has a large network of children’s hospitals and pediatric specialists. There are nine children’s hospitals in Chicago and additional children’s hospitals in Peoria and Springfield. Through partnerships with UIC‐DSCC, children’s hospitals in neighboring states also play a key role in promoting the health of Illinois MCH population. Specifically, there are children’s hospitals in Milwaukee, Wis., Madison, Wis., Iowa City, Iowa, St. Louis, Mo., and Indianapolis, Ind. that work with UIC-DSCC.
Integration of Services
Behavioral Health: The federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a series of behavioral health demonstration projects under a 1115b demonstration waiver to implement Integrated Health Homes as a part of HealthChoice Illinois, the state’s Medicaid managed care program.
Financing of Services
Women and children in Illinois are eligible for publicly subsidized health insurance through Illinois’ Medical Assistance program, which is administered by Illinois Department of Health and Family Services (HFS). The Medical Assistance Program includes both Title XIX and Title XXI.
Necessary medical benefits, as well as preventive care for children, are covered for eligible persons when provided by a health care provider enrolled with HFS. Eligibility requirements vary by program. Most individuals enrolled are covered for comprehensive services, such as doctor visits and dental care, well-child care, immunizations for children, mental health and substance abuse services, hospital care, emergency services, prescription drugs, and medical equipment and supplies. Illinois is a Medicaid expansion state. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), eligibility for Medicaid coverage was expanded to adults age 19-64 who were not previously covered. Individuals with income up to 138% of the federal poverty level are eligible.
In Illinois there are several insurance options for children and families. Children in families with incomes up to 142% of federal poverty level are eligible for traditional Medicaid coverage and children in families with incomes up to 313% FPL are eligible through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) program. Specifically, All Kids is an Illinois' program for children who need comprehensive, affordable, health insurance, regardless of immigration status or health condition. The insurance plans under All Kids, include All Kids Assist, All Kids Share, All Kids Premium Level 1 and 2, and Moms and Babies. Children and pregnant women must live in Illinois and are eligible regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
The Medicaid “Moms and Babies” plan provides a full range of health benefits to eligible pregnant women and their babies, with eligibility up to 213% of the federal poverty line. The program pays for both outpatient and inpatient hospital services for women while they are pregnant and postpartum. Until recently, the postpartum coverage period was 60 days. During the current the public health emergency for COVID-19, under the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement, all Medicaid recipients were granted continuous eligibility for the duration of the public health emergency. Thus, pregnant persons had continuous insurance coverage without having to re-verify income eligibility and were not discontinued at 60 days postpartum. Once the public health emergency is over, Illinois’ efforts in extended coverage will continue. In April 2021, Illinois became the first state to receive approval for the extension of continuous Medicaid eligibility for 12 months postpartum through an 1115 waiver. This waiver approval will allow Illinois to continue receiving federal match for postpartum Medicaid claims up to one year postpartum, including allowing women to enroll at any time during the first year postpartum if they become eligible at that time. Babies may be covered for the first year of their lives provided the mother was covered when the baby was born. Moms and Babies enrollees have no co-payments or premiums and must live in Illinois.
Along with All Kids, Medicaid also has a program called “FamilyCare,” which offers health care coverage to parents living with their children 18 years old or younger as well as relatives who are caring for children in place of their parents. For all plans, non-pregnant adults must live in Illinois and be U.S. citizens or legal permanent immigrants in the country for a minimum of five years.
There are approximately 1.6 million children enrolled in All Kids. Families may apply using English or Spanish web-based applications that may be submitted online or downloaded and submitted through the U.S. Postal Service.
Over time, insurance coverage and access in Illinois has been an area of steady improvement. In 2017, 91.5% of the civilian non-institutionalized population was insured. Among children ages 18 and under, this proportion was 96.7%. Rates of insurance were lower among Hispanics and Latinos (81.0%), and foreign-born residents who are not citizens (63%).Women are more likely than men to have insurance coverage, although almost 10% of women ages 19-44 were uninsured in 2017.
Nearly 70% of people in Illinois use private insurance, either alone or in combination with other insurance carriers. Children are less likely than adults to be covered by private insurance, with 59.2% of children under age 6 and 63.8% of children ages 6 to 18 covered by a private insurance plan. More than one third of Illinois residents (34.2%) are covered by a public insurance plan, and for 21.2% of residents a public insurance carrier is their only insurance coverage. Medicaid plans are particularly important for child populations with 37.5% of children using Medicaid in 2017. Public insurance also reaches many of Illinois’ poor residents; 67.5% of residents below 138% of the federal poverty level use a public insurance plan. In 2017, Illinois’ Medicaid program covered 1.4 million children and the Children’s Health Insurance Program covered 324,282. In combination, nearly 1.8 million children were covered, representing a 3% decline from the covered number in 2016.
The implementation of Medicaid managed care is discussed in the “Health Care Delivery System” sub-section.
State Statutes and Regulations Related to Maternal and Child Health Block Grant and Programs
- In 2015, Section 2310-677 of the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law (20 ILCS 2310) was enacted, creating the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) Advisory Committee. This committee is charged with advising and assisting IDPH with identification, treatment, reporting, and improving the outcomes of pregnancies where NAS is a factor.
- The Prenatal and Newborn Care Act (410 ILCS 225) and the Problem Pregnancy Health Services and Care Act (410 ILCS 230) establishes programs to serve low‐income and at‐risk pregnant women.
- The Developmental Disability Prevention Act (410 ILCS 250) authorizes regional perinatal health care and establishes the Perinatal Advisory Committee (PAC). The Regionalized Perinatal Health Care Code (77 Ill. Admin. Code 640) establishes the administrative rules related to perinatal levels in Illinois, including resource and personnel requirements for perinatal levels of designation, data submission, and the designation/re‐designation site visit process.
- The Perinatal HIV Prevention Act (410 ILCS 335) sets forth the requirements related to HIV testing and counseling of pregnant women by the health care professionals caring for them.
- The Newborn Metabolic Screening Act (410 ILCS 240), the Infant Eye Disease Act (410 ILCS 215), the Newborn Eye Pathology Act (410 ILCS 223), and the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act (410 ILCS 213) authorize health screening for newborns. The Genetic and Metabolic Diseases Advisory Committee Act (410 ILCS 265) created a committee to advise IDPH on screening newborns for metabolic diseases.
- The Illinois Family Case Management Act (410 ILCS 212) authorizes the Family Case Management (FCM) program. The WIC Vendor Management Act (410 ILCS 255) "establish[es] the statutory authority for the authorization, limitation, education and compliance review of WIC retail vendors…"
- Section 5/3-3016 of the Counties Code (55 ILCS 5) requires that an autopsy be performed on children under 2 years of age who die suddenly and unexpectedly and the circumstances concerning the death are unexplained and that all deaths suspected to be due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) be reported to the Statewide Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Program within 72 hours.
- The Early Intervention Services System Act (325 ILCS 20) "provide[s] a comprehensive, coordinated, interagency, interdisciplinary early intervention services system for eligible infants and toddlers …"
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Section 5/27-8.1 of the Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5), requires:
- Children enrolled in public, private, and parochial schools entering kindergarten or first , sixth, and ninth grades to have a health examination and a tuberculosis skin test if they live an area designated by IDPH as having a high incidence of tuberculosis (105 ILCS 5/27-8.1(1));
- Children enrolled in public, private, and parochial schools in kindergarten, second, sixth, and ninth grades shall have a dental examination (105 ILCS 5/27-8.1(2)); and
- Children enrolled in public, private, and parochial schools in kindergarten shall have an eye examination (105 ILCS 5/27-8.1(3)).
- The School-Based/Linked Health Centers Code (77 Ill. Admin. 641) sets forth the standards for certification of school-based health centers in Illinois. The purpose of school-based health centers is to “improve the overall physical and emotional health of students by promoting healthy lifestyles and by providing available and accessible preventive health care when it is needed.”
- The Maternal and Child Health Services Code (77 Ill. Admin. Code 630) makes the planning, programming, and budgeting for MCH programs the responsibility of IDPH and requires IDPH to give the University of Illinois, Division of Specialized Care for Children “at least the amount of federal Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant funds required by Title V” for services for children with special health care needs. It also authorizes IDPH to award funds for programs providing health services for women of reproductive age, programs providing health services for infants in the first year of life, health services for children from 1 year of age to early adolescence, and programs providing health services for adolescents.
- The Public Water Supply Regulation Act (415 ILCS 40/7a) requires the “owners or official custodians of public water supplies” to follow the recommendations on optimal fluoridation for community water levels as a means of protecting the dental health of all citizens, especially children.
- The Child Hearing and Vision Test Act (410 ILCS 205) requires children to be screened for vision and hearing problems as early as possible, but no later than their first year in any public or private education program, licensed day care center, or residential facility for children with disabilities. It also requires periodic screening thereafter.
- The Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (410 ILCS 45) requires physicians and health care providers who see or treat children 6 years of age or younger to test children for lead poisoning when they live in an area defined as high risk by IDPH.
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The Substance Use Disorder Act (20 ILCS 301) requires:
- establishment and support of programs and services for the promotion of maternal and child health; establishment of substance abuse prevention programs; and
- the creation of a list of all providers licensed to provide substance use disorder treatment to pregnant women in Illinois.
- The Suicide Prevention, Education, and Treatment Act (410 ILCS 53) authorizes IDPH to carry out the Illinois Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan and to fund up to five pilot programs that provide training and direct service programs relating to youth, elderly, special populations, high-risk populations, and professional caregivers.
- Section 17 of the Children and Family Services Act (20 ILCS 505) requires the development of the Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services program to ensure that youth who do or may interact with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have access to needed community, prevention, diversion, emergency, and independent living services.
- Section 16.1 of the Probation and Probation Officers Act (730 ILCS 110) authorizes the Redeploy Illinois program, which is intended to encourage the deinstitutionalization of juvenile offenders and offer alternatives, when appropriate, to avoid commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
- The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 (705 ILCS 405) establishes juvenile probation services with the goal of allowing youth to remain with their families whenever possible to maintain the youth’s moral, emotional, mental, and physical welfare.
- The Emancipation of Minors Act (750 ILCS 30) allows homeless minors to be emancipated from their parents.
- The Specialized Care for Children Act (110 ILCS 345) designates the University of Illinois Division of Specialized Care for Children as the agency to administer federal funds to support Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN).
- The Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 (750 ILCS 60) defines abuse, domestic violence, harassment, neglect, and other terms, and authorizes the issuance of orders of protection. The Domestic Violence Shelters Act (20 ILCS 1310) requires the Illinois Department of Human Services to administer domestic violence shelters and service programs.
- The Reduction of Racial and Ethnic Disparities Act (410 ILCS 100) requires IDPH to establish and administer a grant program to “stimulate the development of community-based and neighborhood-based projects that will improve the health outcomes of racial and ethnic populations" and was envisioned to “function as a partnership between state and local governments, faith-based organizations, and private-sector health care providers, including managed care, voluntary health care resources, social service providers, and nontraditional partners.”
- The Reproductive Health Act (IL Public Act 101-0013) sets forth “the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about one's own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.”
- Task Force on Infant and Maternal Mortality Among African Americans Act (IL Public Act 101-0038) created a task force establishing best practices to decrease infant and maternal mortality among African Americans in Illinois and produce an annual report to the General Assembly detailing its findings and recommendations.
- Maternal Blood Pressure Equipment Act (IL Public Act 101-0091) requires hospitals to have proper instruments available for taking a pregnant woman’s blood pressure.
- Maternal Mental Health Insurance Coverage Act (IL Public Act 101-0386) requires insurance coverage for mental health conditions that occur during pregnancy or during the postpartum period.
- Hospital Hemorrhage Training Act (IL Public Act 101-0390) requires all birthing facilities to conduct annual continuing education that includes management of severe maternal hypertension and obstetric hemorrhage.
- Pregnancy and Childbirth Rights Act (IL Public Act 101-0445), amends the Medical Patient Rights Act by setting forth certain rights that women have with regard to pregnancy and childbirth, which include appropriate access to care prior to, during, and after the pregnancy, choice in the type of provider for her maternity care professional and the setting in which she receives her care. Health care providers, including hospitals, are required to post information about these rights in a prominent place in their facilities and on their websites.
- Reporting of Infant and Maternal Mortality Act (IL Public Act 101-0446) provides changes to the Hospital Report Card Act by requiring hospitals to submit as part of their quarterly reports to IDPH: each instance of preterm birth and infant mortality within the reporting period, including the racial and ethnic information of the mothers of those infants; and each instance of maternal mortality within the reporting period, including the racial and ethnic information of those mothers.
- Maternal Levels of Care Act (IL Public Act 101-0447) requires IDPH to establish levels of maternal care for hospitals in Illinois. These levels of care are to be complimentary but distinct from the perinatal levels of care system. IDPH, by rule, will develop criteria for the designation of hospitals based on their capabilities. IDPH will also collect additional data on maternal mortality and morbidity to lead any future changes to the maternal levels of care.
- Maternal Mental Health Education Act (PA 101-0512) creates the Maternal Mental Health Conditions Education, Early Diagnosis, and Treatment Act which requires the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) to develop educational materials on maternal mental health conditions and to make them available to birthing hospitals. Starting Jan. 1, 2021, applicable hospitals must distribute those materials to employees regularly working with pregnant or postpartum women, as well as supplement the materials with information and resources relevant to their facility or region.
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