IL HB1663

The Department of Public Health must develop standards for all hospital perinatal care levels, including regional perinatal centers, in consultation with its advisory planning committee, conforming to the most current American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Guidelines for Perinatal Care.

Standards must ensure facilities can stabilize infants prior to transport, coordinate between general maternity care and perinatal centers, manage delivery complications, and review high-risk pregnancies and births to identify handicapping conditions or developmental disabilities.

Hospitals and maternity centers must implement procedures to identify and report all births of children with handicapping conditions or developmental disabilities to the Department and provide prompt evaluation and referral to appropriate regional perinatal centers or medical specialty services.

Standards require postnatal reviews of all perinatal deaths and births with handicapping conditions, must provide high-risk mothers with information and counseling services, and must notify state and local educational agencies about children requiring evaluation and assessment.

Perinatal centers must provide trained personnel, neonatal nursing staff, 24-hour x-ray and laboratory equipment, infant monitoring equipment, transportation services, genetic services, surgical and cardiology consultation, and other support services as required.