Illinois § 22

§ 22.

Public reports. (a) In order to increase transparency and accessibility of charity care and financial assistance data, a hospital shall make the annual hospital community benefits plan report submitted to the Attorney General under Section 20 available to the public by publishing the information on the hospital's website in the same location where annual reports are posted or on a prominent location on the homepage of the hospital's website. A hospital is not required to post its audited financial statements. Information made available to the public shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following: (1) The reporting period. (2) Charity care costs consistent with the reporting requirements in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of Section 20. Charity care costs associated with services provided in a hospital's emergency department shall be reported as a subset of total charity care costs. (3) Total net patient revenue, reported separately by hospital if the reporting health system includes more than one hospital. (4) Total community benefits spending. If a hospital is owned or operated by a health system, total community benefits spending may be reported as a health system. (5) Data on financial assistance applications consistent with the reporting requirements in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of Section 20, including: (A) the number of applications submitted to the hospital, both complete and incomplete; (B) the number of applications approved; (C) the number of applications denied and the 5 most frequent reasons for denial; and (D) the number of uninsured patients who have declined or failed to respond to the screening described in subsection (a) of Section 16 of the Fair Patient Billing Act and the 5 most frequent reasons for declining. (6) To the extent that race, ethnicity, sex, or preferred language is collected and available for financial assistance applications, the data outlined in paragraph (5) shall be reported by race, ethnicity, sex, and preferred language. If this data is not provided by the patient, the hospital shall indicate this in its reports. Public reporting of this information shall begin with the community benefit report filed on or after July 1, 2022. A hospital that files a report without having a full year of demographic data as required by this Act may indicate this in its report. (b) The Attorney General shall provide notice on the Attorney General's website informing the public that, upon request, the Attorney General will provide the annual reports filed with the Attorney General under Section 20. The notice shall include the contact information to submit a request. (Source: P.A. 102-581, eff. 1-1-22; 103-323, eff. 1-1-24.)