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| Public Act 098-0493
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| SB1911 Enrolled | LRB098 09303 RPM 39443 b |
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AN ACT concerning State government.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Department of Public Health Powers and |
Duties Law of the
Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is |
amended by adding Section 2310-665 as follows:
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(20 ILCS 2310/2310-665 new) |
Sec. 2310-665. Hepatitis C Task Force. |
(a) The General Assembly finds and declares the following: |
(1) Viral hepatitis is a contagious and |
life-threatening disease that has a substantial and |
increasing effect upon the lifespans and quality of life of |
at least 5,000,000 persons living in the United States and |
as many as 180,000,000 worldwide. According to the U.S. |
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the chronic |
form of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus |
(HBV) account for the vast majority of hepatitis-related |
mortalities in the U.S., yet as many as 65% to 75% of |
infected Americans remain unaware that they are infected |
with the virus, prompting the U.S. Centers for Disease |
Control and Prevention (CDC) to label these viruses as the |
silent epidemic. HCV and HBV are major public health |
problems that cause chronic liver diseases, such as |
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cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer. The 5-year |
survival rate for primary liver cancer is less than 5%. |
These viruses are also the leading cause of liver |
transplantation in the United States. While there is a |
vaccine for HBV, no vaccine exists for HCV. However, there |
are anti-viral treatments for HCV that can improve the |
prognosis or actually clear the virus from the patient's |
system. Unfortunately, the vast majority of infected |
patients remain unaware that they have the virus since |
there are generally no symptoms. Therefore, there is a dire |
need to aid the public in identifying certain risk factors |
that would warrant testing for these viruses. Millions of |
infected patients remain undiagnosed and continue to be at |
elevated risks for developing more serious complications. |
More needs to be done to educate the public about this |
disease and the risk factors that warrant testing. In some |
cases, infected patients play an unknowing role in further |
spreading this infectious disease. |
(2) The existence of HCV was definitively published and |
discovered by medical researchers in 1989. Prior to this |
date, HCV is believed to have spread unchecked. The |
American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases |
(AASLD) recommends that primary care physicians screen all |
patients for a history of any viral hepatitis risk factor |
and test those individuals with at least one identifiable |
risk factor for the virus. Some of the most common risk |
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factors have been identified by AASLD, HHS, and the U.S. |
Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as other public |
health and medical research organizations, and include the |
following: |
(A) anyone who has received a blood transfusion |
prior to 1992; |
(B) anyone who is a Vietnam-era veteran; |
(C) anyone who has abnormal liver function tests; |
(D) anyone infected with the HIV virus; |
(E) anyone who has used a needle to inject drugs; |
(F) any health care, emergency medical, or public |
safety worker who has been stuck by a needle or exposed |
to any mucosal fluids of an HCV-infected person; and |
(G) any children born to HCV-infected mothers. |
A 1994 study determined that Caucasian Americans |
statistically accounted for the most number of infected |
persons in the United States, while the highest incidence |
rates were among African and Hispanic Americans. |
(3) In January of 2010, the Institute of Medicine |
(IOM), commissioned by the CDC, issued a comprehensive |
report entitled Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National |
Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C. |
The key findings and recommendations from the IOM's report |
are (A) there is a lack of knowledge and awareness about |
chronic viral hepatitis on the part of health care and |
social service providers, (B) there is a lack of knowledge |
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and awareness about chronic viral hepatitis among at-risk |
populations, members of the public, and policy makers, and |
(C) there is insufficient understanding about the extent |
and seriousness of the public health problem, so inadequate |
public resources are being allocated to prevention, |
control, and surveillance programs. |
(4) In this same 2010 IOM report, researchers compared |
the prevalence and incidences of HCV, HBV, and HIV and |
found that, although there are only 1,100,000 HIV/AIDS |
infected persons in the United States and over 4,000,000 |
Americans infected with viral hepatitis, the percentage of |
those with HIV that are unaware they have HIV is only 21% |
as opposed to approximately 70% of those with viral |
hepatitis being unaware that they have viral hepatitis. It |
appears that public awareness of risk factors associated |
with each of these diseases could be a major factor in the |
alarming disparity between the percentage of the |
population that is infected with one of these blood |
viruses, but unaware that they are infected. |
(5) In light of the widely varied nature of the risk |
factors mentioned in this subsection (a), the previous |
findings by the Institute of Medicine, and the clear |
evidence of the disproportional public awareness between |
HIV and viral hepatitis, it is clearly in the public |
interest for this State to establish a task force to gather |
testimony and develop an action plan to (A) increase public |
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awareness of the risk factors for these viruses, (B) |
improve access to screening for these viruses, and (C) |
provide those infected with information about the |
prognosis, treatment options, and elevated risk of |
developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. There is clear and |
increasing evidence that many adults in Illinois and in the |
United States have at least one of the risk factors |
mentioned in this subsection (a). |
(6) The General Assembly also finds that it is in the |
public interest to bring communities of Illinois-based |
veterans of American military service into familiarity |
with the issues created by this disease, because many |
veterans, especially Vietnam-era veterans, have at least |
one of the previously enumerated risk factors and are |
especially prone to being affected by this disease; and |
because veterans of American military service should enjoy |
in all cases, and do enjoy in most cases, adequate access |
to health care services that include medical management and |
care for preexisting and long-term medical conditions, |
such as infection with the hepatitis virus. |
(b) There is established the Hepatitis C Task Force
within |
the Department of Public Health. The purpose of the Task Force |
shall be to: |
(1) develop strategies to identify and address the |
unmet needs of persons
with hepatitis C in order to enhance |
the quality of life of persons with hepatitis C by |
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maximizing
productivity and independence and addressing |
emotional, social, financial, and vocational
challenges of |
persons with hepatitis C; |
(2) develop strategies to provide persons with |
hepatitis C greater access to
various treatments and other |
therapeutic options that may be available; and |
(3) develop strategies to improve hepatitis C |
education and awareness. |
(c) The Task Force shall consist of 17 members as follows: |
(1) the Director of Public Health, the Director of |
Veterans' Affairs, and the Director of Human Services,
or |
their designees, who shall serve ex officio; |
(2) ten public members who shall be appointed by
the |
Director of Public Health from the medical, patient, and |
service provider communities, including, but not limited |
to, HCV Support, Inc.; and |
(3) four members of the General Assembly, appointed
one |
each by the President of the Senate, the Minority Leader of |
the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, |
and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. |
Vacancies in the membership of the Task Force shall be |
filled in the same
manner provided for in the original |
appointments. |
(d) The Task Force shall organize within 120 days following |
the
appointment of a majority of its members and shall select a |
chairperson and
vice-chairperson from among the members. The |
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chairperson shall appoint a
secretary, who need not be a member |
of the Task Force. |
(e) The public members shall serve without compensation and |
shall not be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the
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performance of their duties, unless funds
become available to |
the Task Force. |
(f) The Task Force shall be entitled to call to its |
assistance and avail
itself of the services of the employees of |
any State, county, or municipal
department, board, bureau, |
commission, or agency as it may require and as may be
available |
to it for its purposes. |
(g) The Task Force may meet and hold hearings as it deems |
appropriate. |
(h) The Department of Public Health shall provide staff
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support to the Task Force. |
(i) The Task Force shall report its findings and |
recommendations to the
Governor and to the General Assembly, |
along with any legislative bills that it desires to recommend
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for adoption by the General Assembly, no later than December |
31, 2015. |
(j) The Task Force is abolished and this Section is |
repealed on January 1, 2016.
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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