As the new year begins, there are a number of new and amended laws which went into effect in Illinois starting on January 1, 2024. A good portion of these laws impact and influence the practice of licensed professionals. It is necessary to review these laws and regulations in order to properly abide and comply with all relevant changes. A comprehensive list of related newly enacted and amended laws can be found below.
NEW LAWS
Public Act 103-0523
40 ILCS 5/13-209.5
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Article of the Illinois Pension Code
Allows licensed health care professionals (rather than just physicians) to make certain disability determinations. Defines “licensed health care professional”. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2035&GAID=17&DocTypeID=HB&SessionID=112&GA=103
Public Act 103-0425
20 ILCS 25
Illinois Dental Practice Act
Amends several sections of the Illinois Dental Practice Act. A few of the more salient changes are that dental records are statutorily the property of the office in which dentistry is practiced, rules for notifying patients at least 30 days prior to closing a dental office, all prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances shall include the quantity prescribed, and being a member of the military service counts as practicing in another jurisdiction for the purposes of having experience practicing and obtaining an Illinois license. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=2077&GAID=17&SessionID=112&LegID=145480
House Bill 2267
225 ILCS 25/
Illinois Dental Practice Act
Amends the Illinois Dental Practice Act to allow work at a health fair to qualify under the definition of “public health supervision.” For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/HB/10300HB2267.htm
Public Act 103-0428
225 ILCS 46/
Health Care Worker Background Check Act
Amends the Health Care Worker Background Check Act. Allows health care employers to hire individuals for positions involving direct care for clients or patients who have been convicted of specified offenses under the laws of other states that are equivalent to specified laws in Illinois. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2102&GAID=17&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=145554&SessionID=112&GA=103
Public Act 103-0026
20 ILCS 2105/2105-15
Civil Administrative Code of Illinois (Department of Professional Regulation Law)
Amends Department of Professional Regulation Law to allow the IDFPR to deny issuing a license, or discipline a licensee, for being found by the Workers’ Compensation Commission of the Department of Insurance to have failed to secure workers’ compensation obligations in the manner required by the Workers’ Compensation Act. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=2145&GAID=17&SessionID=112&LegID=145686
Public Act 103-0534
20 ILCS 2105/2105-180
Department of Professional Regulation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois
Amends Department of Professional Regulation Law to disallow the IDFPR from requiring self-disclosure of criminal background information in instances where the IDFPR has already stated that the information cannot be used against an applicant for licensure. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=103-0534
House Bill 2274
225 ILCS 110/8.6
Illinois Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Practice Act
Amends the Illinois Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Practice Act to allow a waiver of the 100-hour supervised field work requirement for a licensee who completed a program of study in a state that does not have that 100-hour requirement. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/HB/10300HB2274.htm
Public Act 103-0433
225 ILCS 20/
Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act
Amends the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act so that an applicant may use an examination alternative to allow the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to ascertain the qualifications and fitness of candidates for a license to engage in the independent practice of clinical social work. The act then clarifies what examination alternative would qualify. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2365&GAID=17&GA=103&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=147441&SessionID=112
House Bill 2395
5 ILCS 80/
Private Detective, Private Alarm Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act
Amends the Private Detective, Private Alarm Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act in several places, most importantly that all applicants and licensees under the Act must provide the IDFPR with valid email addresses. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/HB/10300HB2395.htm
House Bill 2509
225 ILCS 65/60
Nurse Practice Act
Amends the Nurse Practice Act to require the IDFPR to approve of a nursing program’s effectiveness based on, among other criteria, exam passage rate of all graduated over the most recent three years. Additionally, amends the Nurse Practice Act to require a graduate who does not take the exam within 90 days or who fails the exam to return to the institution of higher education for remediation prior to repeating or taking the examination. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/HB/10300HB2509.htm
Public Act 103-0060
225 ILCS 65/65-43
Nurse Practice Act
Amends the Nurse Practice Act by removing a provision providing that the scope of practice of an advanced practice registered nurse with full practice authority includes prescribing benzodiazepines or Schedule II narcotic drugs. The amendment does allow for a 120-day supply of benzodiazepines without a consultation relationship, but thereafter consultation with a physician is required for those prescriptions. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=199&GAID=17&SessionID=112&LegID=143700
House Bill 2756
225 ILCS 57/67
Massage Licensing Act
Amends the Massage Licensing Act to require continuing education hours in domestic violence and sexual assault for license renewal. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/HB/10300HB2756.htm
Public Act 103-0537
20 ILCS 2105/2105-405
Department of Professional Regulation Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois
Amends Department of Professional Regulation Law to create the position of a licensing liaison for international applicants. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=103-0537
House Bill 3109
225 ILCS 60/
Medical Practice Act
Amends the Medical Practice Act to ensure that questions from the Illinois State Medical Board, in determining mental capacity, are compliant with the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/HB/10300HB3109.htm
Senate Bill 1785
225 ILCS 60/54.5
Medical Practice Act
Amends the Medical Practice Act so that the written collaborative agreement between a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches and an advanced practice registered nurse shall be for services for which the collaborating physician can provide adequate collaboration (rather than for services in the same area of practice or specialty as the collaborating physician in his or her clinical medical practice). For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/103/SB/10300SB1785.htm
Public Act 103-0336
410 ILCS 710/15
720 ILCS 600/2
Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act
Amends the Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act to allow pharmacists to sell fentanyl test strips over the counter to the public to test for the presence of fentanyl, a fentanyl analogue, or a drug adulterant within a controlled substance. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=103&SessionID=112&DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=3203
Public Act 103-0065
225 ILCS 95/
225 ILCS 570/
Physician Assistant Practice Act
Amends the Physician Assistant Practice Act to define a “federal qualified health center” and allow physician assistants who were in written collaborative agreements to continue to practice for up to 90 days after the termination of those agreements, granted they meet certain requirements. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=218&GAID=17&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=143815&SessionID=112&GA=103
Public Act 103-0219
110 ILCS 935/
Underserved Health Care Provider Workforce Act
Amends the Underserved Health Care Provider Workforce Act to include students studying chiropractic medicine as an “eligible medical student.” For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=103-0219
Public Act 103-0240
225 ILCS 85/15.1
Pharmacy Practice Act
Amends the Pharmacy Practice Act to provide that when a pharmacist is not present in the pharmacy, a registered pharmacy technician, a registered certified pharmacy technician, a student pharmacist, and other supportive staff shall dispense prescriptions that have received final verification by a pharmacist. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1889&GAID=17&GA=103&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=146733&SessionID=112&SpecSess=
Public Act 103-0505
5 ILCS 80/
225 ILCS 115/
Veterinary Medicine and Surgery Practice Act Amends the Veterinary Medicine and Surgery Practice Act. A few of the changes include: it adds provisions concerning an email address of record and for electronic delivery of certain notices to an email address of records, provides for instances in which telehealth may be used, provides that a veterinarian shall not substitute telehealth, tele-advice, telemedicine, or teletriage when a physical examination is warranted or necessary for an accurate diagnosis of any medical condition or creation of an appropriate treatment plan, and repeals a provision requiring the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to maintain a roster. Makes corresponding and other changes. For more information regarding this Act, please see here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=2059&GAID=17&SessionID=112&LegID=146931