Health & Benefits

You have certain rights as both a patient and a visitor in a hospital. 

Medical care

You have the right to:

• Receive emergency medical care. No hospital can turn you away on the basis that you cannot pay for treatment. As of January 1, 2024, the law says your emergency room treatment cannot be delayed to ask about your insurance status or form of payment.
• Request  to be referred or transferred to another healthcare facility 
• Receive care without discrimination by any medical staff. The only time this doesn't apply is if the hospital has rules to stop the spread of Covid and you refuse to follow them. 
• Refuse treatment or transfer. 
• Be treated with respect and dignity. 
• Have your privacy protected.
• Have your beliefs and values respected. 
• Have your spiritual needs and your family’s spiritual needs met. 
• Ask and talk about the ethics of your care. This includes deciding if you want to be revived (or receive other life-saving treatment) if you stop breathing. 
• Have your wishes about organ donation followed. 

Communication

You have the right to...

• Be informed of the name of your doctor.
• To have a family member, representative, and your own doctor promptly notified of your admission.
• To privacy and confidentiality when it comes to your medical records, unless the law says otherwise.
• Information about your condition as well as the risks and benefits of your treatment options in a timely manner. 
• Request copies of medical records be sent to yourself, another health care professional, or another health care facility without undue delay. 
• Give your consent When someone gives permission for someone else to do something , or refuse, to be in any research program or experimental procedure, unless you are in a life-threatening emergency.
• Learn about the possible risks and effects if you're part of a research study or experimental procedure. 
• Have private phone calls with family and friends unless your doctor says it could harm your health
• Send and receive mail unless your doctor determines that it would put your health in danger.
• Receive treatment and information in your preferred language. Hospitals must provide an interpreter or bilingual staff to make sure communication is clear and fast.

During your stay

You have a right to…

• Have visitors unless the hospital doesn't allow any, or your doctor thinks that having visitors could harm your health. During health emergencies, like the Covid-19 pandemic, the hospital might limit your visitors to one person. 

Payments

You have a right to…

• Get a clear explanation of your total healthcare bill, including a list of charges for each service you received. 
• Call, write, or email to ask about or dispute your hospital bill. 
• Apply for financial help from the hospital, even if you don’t have insurance. 
• Be given the opportunity to start a reasonable payment plan within 30 days following the date of your first hospital bill. This goes for both insured and uninsured patients. Only if you fail to agree to a plan, then the hospital may refer a bill or a portion of the bill to a collection agency or attorney for collection against you. 
• Receive your medical bill within 180 days (approximately 6 months) of the day you were discharged. If you received services through Medicare or Medicaid, you have the right to receive your medical bill within 24 months from the date of service.  
• Not pay surprise charges for out-of-network provider services under certain circumstances. Learn more about the No Surprises Act.

Learn more about the Fair Patient Billing Act.

As of July 1, 2024, hospitals will check to see if uninsured patients can get help from public health insurance or the hospital itself. They must do so before trying to collect money. Uninsured patients may not want to apply for public health insurance because of immigration issues. If this is the case, the hospital should tell them about free resources that can help them.

Pregnancy and childbirth

You have a right to…

• Choose a certified nurse midwife or physician as your maternity care professional.
• Leave your maternity care professional and select another if you are unsatisfied with your care, except as otherwise provided by law.
• Receive information about the names of those health care professionals involved in your care.
• Privacy and confidentiality of records, except as provided by law.
• Receive information concerning your condition and proposed treatment, including methods of relieving pain.
• Accept or refuse any treatment, to the extent medically possible.
• Be informed if your provider wants to include you or your infant in a research study.
• Access your medical records.
• Receive information in your preferred language.
• Decide collaboratively with caregivers when you and the baby will leave the birth site for home, based on their conditions and circumstances.
• Be treated with respect at all times before, during, and after pregnancy by your health care professionals.

Parent or guardian to a minor

You have the right to…

• Give or refuse consent for the minor A person under 18 years old ’s general health care, with one exception as listed below.
• Receive notification 48 hours prior to a minor’s abortion procedure. This requirement may be waived if there is a court order to waive To give up a legal right or pardon a fee it or if the minor is a victim of abuse. 
• Give or refuse consent for the administration of the HPV Vaccine to the minor. 
• Give or refuse consent for the minor’s to access hormone replacement therapy. 

Please note that protective orders for a minor in Illinois require someone 18+ or older, but it does not have to be a parent or guardian.

Your consent as a parent or guardian is not required by law for…

• General health care if a minor is married, pregnant, or a parent, 
• Adoption When an adult becomes a child's legal parent of the minor’s child, 
• Minor’s abortion procedure, 
• Safe haven abandonment, 
• Minor’s purchase of Plan B One-Step and generic one-pill levonorgestrel over the counter,
• Access to hormonal methods of birth control for minors 12 and older,
• Access STI/HIV testing and treatment for minors 12 and older, 
• Health care at the hospital including treatment for STIs, HIV, and emergency contraception,
• Filing a police report When a police officer writes a description of what happened at an accident ,
• Evidence Anything used to show that something is true collection and release,
• Determining the parameters of confidentiality (12 and older), and
• Substance use treatment for a minor 12 and older for inpatient or outpatient. Family involvement or release of information is only allowed with the youth’s consent.

Rights as a minor

As a minor, you have the right to…

• Access accurate, detailed information about your healthcare rights.
• Healthcare that does not discriminate against your race, gender, sexual identity, sexual behavior or perceived sexual behavior, ability, class, or other identities and experiences.
• Be called by your name and pronouns that you use by your medical provider.
• Ask medical providers questions and receive honest answers and responses.
• Be informed if or when confidentiality must legally be broken (e.g. - mandatory report) and be included in the process.

Experiencing discrimination at the hospital

If you think you've been treated unfairly because of your race, color, or national origin, you can file a complaint with the hospital. Additionally, you cannot be denied service only on the basis of your HIV status. 

Filing a complaint

You have the right to file a complaint or grievance without being subject to discrimination or unreasonable interruption of care. Under Illinois law, the hospital must investigate your claim and work with you to address your concerns. If at the end of this process your claim is still unresolved, the hospital must report it to the Illinois Department of Public Health for investigation.

You also have the right to directly file a complaint with the following agencies and departments:

Illinois Department of Public Health
Central Complaint Registry
525 W. Jefferson Street
Springfield, IL 62761
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Phone: (800) 252-4343
TTY: (800) 526-4372
E-mail: [email protected]

Illinois Department of Human Rights
Intake The screening process children who are arrested go through before seeing a judge. Intake procedures are often conducted by intake officers, probation staff, case and social workers, or police. Unit
100 W. Randolph Street, Tenth Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 814-6200
TTY: (866) 740-3953

The Joint Commission
Office of Quality Monitoring
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: (800) 994-6610
Fax: (630) 792-5636
E-mail: [email protected]