Illinois Statutes Chapter 20. Executive Branch § 2310/2310-216. Culturally Competent Healthcare Demonstration Program

(a) Research demonstrates that racial and ethnic minorities generally receive health care that is of a lesser quality than the majority population and have poorer health outcomes on a number of measures. The 2007 State Health Improvement Plan calls for increased cultural competence in Illinois health care settings, based on national standards that indicate cultural competence is an important aspect of the quality of health care delivered to racial, ethnic, religious, and other minorities. Based on the research and national standards, the General Assembly finds that increasing cultural competence among health care providers will improve the quality of health care delivered to minorities in Illinois.

(b) Subject to appropriation for this purpose, the Department shall establish the Culturally Competent Health Care Demonstration Program. For purposes of this Section, “culturally competent health care” means the ability of health care providers to understand and respond to the cultural and linguistic needs brought by patients to the health care encounter. The Program shall establish models that reflect best practices in culturally competent health care and that expand the delivery of culturally competent health care in Illinois.

(c) The Program shall consist of (i) demonstration grants awarded by the Department to public or private health care entities geographically distributed around the State; (ii) an ongoing collaborative learning project among the grantees; and (iii) an evaluation of the effect of the demonstration grants in improving the quality of health care for racial and ethnic minorities. The Department may contract with a vendor with experience in racial and ethnic health disparities and cultural competency to conduct the evaluation and provide support for the collaborative learning project. The vendor shall be a not-for-profit organization that represents a partnership of public, private, and voluntary health organizations that focuses on prevention, development of the public health system, and the reduction of racial and ethnic health disparities, and that engages health disparities stakeholders in its efforts.