Bill Text: IL HB4606 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Amends the Department of Human Services Act. Provides that the purpose of the amendatory Act is to authorize the Department of Human Services to identify, develop, and manage the administrative infrastructure needed to support existing and future short-term universal newborn home visiting services. Provides that in carrying out this work, the Department may consider the recommendations contained in the Early Childhood Comprehensive Services grant report when adopting rules to support implementation. Provides that by January 1, 2028, the Department of Human Services may do the following: (1) create and maintain a list of the voluntary universal newborn home visiting models that align with the State's priorities for approach and outcomes and that may inform future local implementation or support existing State grants; (2) coordinate with relevant State agencies to support implementation of State-administered funding for local programs; request, collect, and report available data from universal newborn home visiting implementers and develop recommendations for future data collection and data infrastructure; and develop criteria for prioritizing future State funding, including the identification of communities for potential universal newborn home visiting implementation; and (3) consult, coordinate, and collaborate with relevant stakeholders when designing the infrastructure to support universal newborn home visiting services. Provides that funds received for the purposes of the amendatory Act shall supplement, and not supplant, existing or new federal, State, or local funding for these universal newborn home visiting services. Permits the Department to adopt rules. Effective July 1, 2027.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 39-1)

Status: (Enrolled) 2026-06-18 - Sent to the Governor [HB4606 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB4606-Enrolled.html

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AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Department of Human Services Act is amended
by adding Section 10-85 as follows:
(20 ILCS 1305/10-85 new)
Sec. 10-85. Short-term Universal Newborn Home Visiting
Services.
(a) The General Assembly finds all of the following:
(1) The weeks following birth are a critical period
for the person who has given birth, the newborn infant,
and the entire family, setting the stage for long-term
health and well-being.
(2) Families may struggle to navigate and access early
childhood, health and mental health, and other support
service networks in the early postpartum period, and
targeted services and supports may fail to identify
families who do not present with risk factors.
(3) Research also indicates that postpartum education
and care leads to lower rates of morbidity and mortality
in persons who have given birth, as many of the risk
factors for post-delivery complications, such as
hemorrhaging or a pulmonary embolism, may not be

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identifiable before a person who has given birth is
discharged following the birth. Research also indicates
that parenting education on health risks for newborns,
including substance use, lactation, safe sleep, and other
topics, leads to lower infant mortality and morbidity.
(4) Illinois communities have invested in and are
already implementing short-term universal newborn home
visiting services, including Stephenson, Peoria,
Winnebago, and Macon counties, and the city of Chicago,
and have demonstrated positive outcomes for the physical,
mental, and social well-being of newborns and the parents
or caregivers of newborns.
(5) The 2018 Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality
Report from the Department of Public Health recommended
that the State expand efforts to provide short-term
universal home visiting to all mothers within 3 weeks of
giving birth.
(6) In October 2021, the Department of Human Services
received an Early Childhood Comprehensive Services grant
from the federal Health Resources and Services
Administration to investigate ways to enhance the
prenatal-to-age 3 statewide maternal and early childhood
system of care by establishing a Universal Newborn Support
System that better connects families to programs and
services.
(7) Short-term universal newborn home visiting

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services are a covered Medicaid benefit under the approved
State Plan Amendment.
(8) While no unified State system exists, local
communities are already implementing universal newborn
home visiting services with some combination of local,
State, federal, and philanthropic funding, and current
programs, future programs, and the State would benefit
from the cohesion and guidance generated by a statewide
vision and supported by a permanent agency administrative
home and related infrastructure.
(b) The purpose of this Section is to authorize the
Department of Human Services to identify, develop, and manage
the administrative infrastructure needed to support existing
and future short-term universal newborn home visiting
services. In carrying out this work, the Department may
consider the recommendations contained in the Early Childhood
Comprehensive Services grant report when adopting rules to
support implementation.
(c) By January 1, 2028, the Department may do the
following:
(1) Create and maintain a list of the voluntary
universal newborn home visiting models that align with the
State's priorities for approach and outcomes and that may
inform future local implementation or support existing
State grants. Any universal newborn home visiting model
included on the list must:

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(A) Be validated by evidence demonstrating
effectiveness in promoting the physical, mental, and
social well-being of newborn infants and the parents
or caregivers of newborn infants.
(B) Include an evidence-based assessment of the
physical, social, and emotional factors affecting the
family and newborn infant, including a health and
wellness check of the newborn infant, an assessment of
the physical and mental health of a person who has
given birth, lactation support as needed, and
screening for social determinants or drivers of health
and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders using
validated tools.
(C) Provide information, referrals, and
connections to community resources, early childhood
services, family supports, community-based
organizations, social service agencies, and medically
necessary follow-up health care.
(D) Offer at least one visit within the first 3
weeks after the newborn's discharge from the birth
hospital with up to 2 follow-up visits as determined
by clinical judgment.
(E) Be voluntary and offered at no cost to each
family with a newborn infant that resides in the
participating community. For purposes of this Section,
the family of a newborn infant includes biological

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parents, foster and adoptive parents, kinship
caregivers, and parents who have recently experienced
a stillbirth.
(F) Impose no adverse consequences on families who
decline to receive services or participate in the
program.
(2) Coordinate with relevant State agencies to support
implementation of State-administered funding for local
programs; request, collect, and report available data from
universal newborn home visiting implementers and develop
recommendations for future data collection and data
infrastructure; and develop criteria for prioritizing
future State funding, including the identification of
communities for potential implementation.
(3) Consult, coordinate, and collaborate with relevant
stakeholders when designing the infrastructure to support
universal newborn home visiting services, including early
childhood home visiting programs, community-based
organizations, social service providers, maternal and
child health stakeholders, hospitals, birth centers, local
public health authorities, insurance carriers, and other
State agencies.
(d) Funds received under this Section shall supplement,
and not supplant, existing or new federal, State, or local
funding for these services.
(e) The Department may adopt any rules necessary to

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implement this Section.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
2027.