Bill Text: IL HB4792 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Requires the Department of Children and Family Services to develop a written, strategic plan that comprehensively addresses improving timely access to quality in-state residential treatment and evidence-based alternatives for youth in the care of the Department. Requires the planning process to be transparent and allow for stakeholder input. Requires the strategic plan to be finalized and made public no later than one year after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the plan shall be revised within 6 months after the conclusion of a rate study and available to incorporate the recommendations of the rate study. Provides that the plan shall include: (1) benchmarks and a timeline for implementing each provision of the plan; (2) strategy for obtaining resources needed to implement each provision of the plan; and (3) ongoing stakeholder engagement during the implementation of the plan. Requires the Department to contract with a rate consultant to study and develop potential new rates and rate methodologies using objective, publicly available data sources, standard administrative cost reporting, and provider-reported costs in order to determine the resources necessary to create and maintain a sufficient number of quality in-state residential treatment resources for youth in the Department's care.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-18 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB4792 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB4792-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 HB4792 Introduced , by Rep. Kathleen Willis SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
20 ILCS 505/45 new
Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Requires the Department of Children and Family Services to develop a written, strategic plan that comprehensively addresses improving timely access to quality in-state residential treatment and evidence-based alternatives for youth in the care of the Department. Requires the planning process to be transparent and allow for stakeholder input. Requires the strategic plan to be finalized and made public no later than one year after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the plan shall be revised within 6 months after the conclusion of a rate study and available to incorporate the recommendations of the rate study. Provides that the plan shall include: (1) benchmarks and a timeline for implementing each provision of the plan; (2) strategy for obtaining resources needed to implement each provision of the plan; and (3) ongoing stakeholder engagement during the implementation of the plan. Requires the Department to contract with a rate consultant to study and develop potential new rates and rate methodologies using objective, publicly available data sources, standard administrative cost reporting, and provider-reported costs in order to determine the resources necessary to create and maintain a sufficient number of quality in-state residential treatment resources for youth in the Department's care.
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A BILL FOR
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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 Children and Family Services Act is amended
by adding Section 45 as follows:
(20 ILCS 505/45 new)
Sec. 45. Residential treatment and evidence-based
alternatives for youth in care.
(a) Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
(1) From 2013 to 2018, more than 500 in-state
residential treatment beds for youth in the care of the
Department of Children and Family Services with serious
and ongoing mental health needs were eliminated.
(2) Development of evidence-based alternatives to
residential treatment, such as therapeutic foster care and
multi-dimensional treatment foster care, has not met the
need caused by the elimination of more than 500
residential treatment beds.
(3) Quality residential treatment is a critical
component of the system of care for youth in the care of
the Department.
(4) It is imperative that children identified as
requiring residential treatment receive that treatment or

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an evidence-based alternative in a timely and competent
fashion.
(5) One significant barrier to the development of new
residential treatment beds has been the ability to attract
and retain qualified staff.
(6) Community-based providers have a 42% to 50% annual
staff turnover rate for caseworkers, supervisors,
therapists, and residential staff.
(7) High rates of staff turnover are directly linked
to poor outcomes for children and youth in care, including
increased lengths of stay, which especially hurt black
children as they are 3 times more likely to languish in
care.
(8) Residential providers require a standardized,
annual reimbursement methodology in order to incentivize a
shrinking workforce and adequately fund and sustain the
best possible outcomes for children and youth in Illinois'
child welfare system, especially youth in need of
residential treatment.
(9) Due to the lack of in-state residential treatment
beds and evidence-based alternatives for youth in care:
(A) Youth in care are waiting for long periods of
time in temporary settings where they often receive
inadequate treatment to address their highly acute
needs. The temporary settings also force youth to
experience placement changes that are only necessary

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because of the lack of critical beds.
(B) Youth in care are left in locked inpatient
psychiatric units beyond the time that they clinically
need to be hospitalized ("beyond medical necessity")
because the outpatient placement resources they need
are not available. The number of days on average that
youth are left beyond medical necessity has increased
from approximately 39 days in 2018 to 75 days in 2021.
(C) Youth in care identified as needing inpatient
psychiatric care are being denied admission to
inpatient psychiatric units due to the risk that the
youth will not have a placement to discharge to when
they are ready for discharge.
(D) Youth in care are being sent to out-of-state
residential facilities where it is more difficult to
monitor safety and well-being and more costly and
challenging to facilitate achievement of their
permanency goals.
(b) Strategic plan on improving access to residential care
and evidence-based alternatives. The Department of Children
and Family Services shall develop a written, strategic plan
that comprehensively addresses improving timely access to
quality in-state residential treatment and evidence-based
alternatives for youth in the care of the Department of
Children and Family Services. The planning process must be
transparent and allow for stakeholder input.

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(c) Implementation. The strategic plan developed by the
Department of Children and Family Services shall be finalized
and made public no later than one year after the effective date
of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly. The plan
shall be revised within 6 months after the completion of the
rate study required under subsection (d) and available to
incorporate the recommendations of the rate study. The plan
shall include:
(1) Benchmarks and a timeline for implementing each
provision of the plan.
(2) Strategy for obtaining resources needed to
implement each provision of the plan.
(3) Ongoing stakeholder engagement during the
implementation of the plan.
(d) The Department shall contract with a rate consultant
to study and develop potential new rates and rate
methodologies using objective, publicly available data
sources, standard administrative cost reporting, and
provider-reported costs in order to determine the resources
necessary to create and maintain a sufficient number of
quality in-state residential treatment resources for youth in
the Department's care. The Department shall formulate
recommendations based on the results of the study.