July 2022: Illinois Law Increasing Oversight of Medical Staffing Agencies

Update Applicable to:
All employers of Medical Staffing Agencies in the state of Illinois.

What happened?
On June 26, 2022, Governor Pritzker signed House Bill 4666 (HB 4666) into law, which amends the Nurse Agency Licensing Act and will impose numerous heightened compliance standards on medical staffing agencies operating within the state of Illinois.

What are the details?
Effective July 1, 2022, HB 4666 will require travel nursing agencies to be transparent around rates and fees charges, increase Nurse Agency reporting on their pay and labor practices and expand protections for workers referred by nurse agencies.

The bill states the following:

• Nurse staffing agencies are prohibited from entering into covenants not to compete with nurses and certified nurse aids.
• Nurse staffing agencies are prohibited from requiring the payment of liquidated damages, conversion fees, employment fees, buy-out fees, placement fees, and/or other compensation if the employee is hired as a permanent healthcare facility employee.
• Nurse staffing agencies must disclose new contracts with facilities to the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) within five business days of the effective date (protected from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)).
• Wage rates paid to nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) must match the wage rates identified in the contract. Failure to do so allows IDOL to recover underpaid wages for the worker.

The new reporting requirements include the following:

• Nurse staffing agencies must submit quarterly reports related to average charges to healthcare facilities to IDOL.
• IDOL must publish yearly a report by county of average amounts paid to employees and charged to health care facilities.
  
  

The IDOL oversees the staffing agencies and will monitor their compliance with the new bill amendments.

For more information, please see the links below:

House Bill 4666 (HB 4666)

Nurse Agency Licensing Act

Article 1 – Article 2

What do employers need to do?

Employers should review the links provided above and make adjustments to their policies relating to the several topics covered above so that they comply with the law.