Bill Text: IL SB0212 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act. Adds definitions for "health care professional" and "expedited partner therapy". Provides that the Department of Public Health shall provide information and technical assistance as appropriate to health care professionals who provide expedited partner therapy services for persons with sexually transmissible diseases. Provides that a health care professional who makes a clinical diagnosis of chlamydia or gonorrhea may prescribe, dispense, furnish, or otherwise provide prescription antibiotic drugs to the infected person's sexual partner or partners without physical examination of the partner or partners, if in the judgment of the health care professional, the partner is unlikely or unable to present for comprehensive health care. Provides that the health care professional shall provide counseling for the patient and written materials to be given by the patient to the partner or partners. Provides that a health care professional providing expedited partner therapy in good faith without fee or compensation and providing counseling and written materials shall not be subject to civil or professional liability, except for willful and wanton misconduct. Makes other changes.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-1)

Status: (Passed) 2009-08-24 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 96-0613 [SB0212 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-SB0212-Enrolled.html

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AN ACT concerning public health.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Medical Practice Act of 1987 is amended by
adding Section 64 as follows:
(225 ILCS 60/64 new)
Sec. 64. Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act. No
licensee under this Act may be disciplined for providing
expedited partner therapy in accordance with the provisions of
the Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act.
Section 10. The Nurse Practice Act is amended by adding
Section 70-170 as follows:
(225 ILCS 65/70-170 new)
Sec. 70-170. Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act.
No licensee under this Act may be disciplined for providing
expedited partner therapy in accordance with the provisions of
the Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act.
Section 15. The Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987 is
amended by adding Section 25 as follows:

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(225 ILCS 95/25 new)
Sec. 25. Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act. No
licensee under this Act may be disciplined for providing
expedited partner therapy in accordance with the provisions of
the Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act.
Section 20. The Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease
Control Act is amended by changing Sections 3 and 6 as follows:
(410 ILCS 325/3) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 7403)
Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the
context clearly requires otherwise:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
(2) "Local health authority" means the full-time official
health department of board of health, as recognized by the
Department, having jurisdiction over a particular area.
(3) "Sexually transmissible disease" means a bacterial,
viral, fungal or parasitic disease, determined by rule of the
Department to be sexually transmissible, to be a threat to the
public health and welfare, and to be a disease for which a
legitimate public interest will be served by providing for
regulation and treatment. In considering which diseases are to
be designated sexually transmissible diseases, the Department
shall consider such diseases as chancroid, gonorrhea,
granuloma inguinale, lymphogranuloma venereum, genital herpes
simplex, chlamydia, nongonococcal urethritis (NGU), pelvic

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inflammatory disease (PID)/Acute Salpingitis, syphilis,
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) for designation, and shall
consider the recommendations and classifications of the
Centers for Disease Control and other nationally recognized
medical authorities. Not all diseases that are sexually
transmissible need be designated for purposes of this Act.
(4) "Health care professional" means a physician licensed
to practice medicine in all its branches, a physician assistant
who has been delegated the provision of sexually transmissible
disease therapy services or expedited partner therapy services
by his or her supervising physician, or an advanced practice
nurse who has a written collaborative agreement with a
collaborating physician that authorizes the provision of
sexually transmissible disease therapy services or expedited
partner therapy services, or an advanced practice nurse who
practices in a hospital or ambulatory surgical treatment center
and possesses appropriate clinical privileges in accordance
with the Nurse Practice Act.
(5) "Expedited partner therapy" means to prescribe,
dispense, furnish, or otherwise provide prescription
antibiotic drugs to the partner or partners of persons
clinically diagnosed as infected with a sexually transmissible
disease, without physical examination of the partner or
partners.
(Source: P.A. 85-1209.)

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(410 ILCS 325/6) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 7406)
Sec. 6. Physical examination and treatment.
(a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this
Section, the Department and its authorized representatives may
examine or cause to be examined persons reasonably believed to
be infected with or to have been exposed to a sexually
transmissible disease.
(b) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this
Section, persons with a sexually transmissible disease shall
report for complete treatment to a physician licensed under the
provisions of the Medical Practice Act of 1987, or shall submit
to treatment at a facility provided by a local health authority
or other public facility, as the Department shall require by
rule or regulation until the disease is noncommunicable or the
Department determines that the person does not present a real
and present danger to the public health. This subsection (b)
shall not be construed to require the Department or local
health authorities to pay for or provide such treatment.
(c) No person shall be apprehended, examined or treated for
a sexually transmissible disease against his will, under the
provisions of this Act, except upon the presentation of a
warrant duly authorized by a court of competent jurisdiction.
In requesting the issuance of such a warrant the Department
shall show by a preponderance of evidence that the person is
infectious and that a real and present danger to the public

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health and welfare exists unless such warrant is issued and
shall show that all other reasonable means of obtaining
compliance have been exhausted and that no other less
restrictive alternative is available. The court shall require
any proceedings authorized by this subsection (c) to be
conducted in camera. A record shall be made of such proceedings
but shall be sealed, impounded and preserved in the records of
the court, to be made available to the reviewing court in the
event of an appeal.
(d) Any person who knowingly or maliciously disseminates
any false information or report concerning the existence of any
sexually transmissible disease under this Section is guilty of
a Class A misdemeanor.
(e) Taking into account the recommendations of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other nationally
recognized medical authorities, the Department shall provide
information and technical assistance as appropriate to health
care professionals who provide expedited partner therapy
services for persons with sexually transmissible diseases.
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
health care professional who makes a clinical diagnosis of
chlamydia or gonorrhea may prescribe, dispense, furnish,
or otherwise provide prescription antibiotic drugs to the
infected person's sexual partner or partners for the
treatment of the sexually transmissible disease without
physical examination of the partner or partners, if in the

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judgment of the health care professional the partner is
unlikely or unable to present for comprehensive
healthcare, including evaluation, testing, and treatment
for sexually transmissible diseases. Expedited partner
therapy shall be limited to partners who may have been
exposed to a sexually transmissible disease within the
previous 60 days, if the patient is able to contact the
partner.
(2) Health care professionals who provide expedited
partner therapy shall comply with Sections 4 and 5 of the
Illinois Sexually Transmissible Disease Control Act.
(3) Health care professionals who provide expedited
partner therapy shall provide counseling for the patient
and written materials provided by the Department to be
given by the patient to the partner or partners that
include at a minimum the following:
(A) a warning that a woman who is pregnant or might
be pregnant must not take certain antibiotics and must
immediately contact a health care professional for an
examination, and a recommendation for such an
examination;
(B) information about the antibiotic and dosage
provided or prescribed; clear and explicit allergy and
side effect warnings, including a warning that a
partner who has a history of allergy to the antibiotic
or the pharmaceutical class of antibiotic must not take

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the antibiotic and must be immediately examined by a
health care professional, and a recommendation for
such an examination;
(C) information about the treatment and prevention
of sexually transmissible diseases;
(D) the requirement of abstinence until a period of
time after treatment to prevent infecting others;
(E) notification of the importance of the partner
or partners of the patient to receive examination and
testing for HIV and other sexually transmissible
diseases, and available resources;
(F) notification of the risk to self, others, and
the public health if the sexually transmissible
disease is not completely and successfully treated;
(G) the responsibility of the partner or partners
to inform his or her sex partner or partners of the
risk of sexually transmissible disease and the
importance of prompt examination and treatment; and
(H) other information as deemed necessary by the
Department.
(4) The Department shall develop and disseminate in
electronic and other formats the following written
materials:
(A) informational materials for partners, as
required in item (3) of this subsection (e);
(B) informational materials for persons who are

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repeatedly diagnosed with sexually transmissible
diseases; and
(C) guidance for health care professionals on the
safe and effective provision of expedited partner
therapy.
The Department may offer educational programs about
expedited partner therapy for health care professionals
and pharmacists licensed under the Pharmacy Practice Act.
(5) A health care professional prescribing,
dispensing, furnishing, or otherwise providing in good
faith without fee or compensation prescription antibiotics
to partners under this subsection (e) and providing
counseling and written materials as required by item (3) of
this subsection (e) shall not be subject to civil or
professional liability, except for willful and wanton
misconduct. A health care professional shall not be subject
to civil or professional liability for choosing not to
provide expedited partner therapy.
(6) A pharmacist or pharmacy shall not be subject to
civil or professional liability for choosing not to fill a
prescription that would cause the pharmacist or pharmacy to
violate any provision of the Pharmacy Practice Act,
including the definition of "prescription" set forth in
subsection (e) of Section 3 of the Pharmacy Practice Act or
the definition of "drug regimen review" set forth in
subsection (y) of Section 3 of the Pharmacy Practice Act.

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(Source: P.A. 90-14, eff. 7-1-97.)