In the 2026 spring legislative session, lawmakers approved a bill that would extend the sunset date of the Medical Practice Act for five years, until January 1, 2032. While some laws remain in effect indefinitely, laws with sunset dates expire and need to be reviewed and reauthorized.
It has been standard procedure for the legislature to extend the expiration dates in this manner for all state licensing statutes, thus allowing for necessary updates, revisions, and corrections because of changes that may have occurred in state or federal laws or administrative rules. In the not-so-distant past, the licensing acts would sunset each year, therefore requiring the General Assembly to take action annually. The change to extending the dates for multiple years has allowed for better continuity for license holders and the licensing agencies.
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HB 5387, reauthorizing the Medical Practice Act, was signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker on August 7, 2026, and is now Public Act 104-0796. While it mostly makes non-substantive changes, there are several amendments that chiropractic physicians should be aware of, beginning on January 1, 2027:
- Successful completion of a re-entry course has been added to the list of factors the Medical Board may consider when considering professional capacity. Any applicant applying for a license to practice medicine in all its branches or for a license as a chiropractic physician who has not been engaged in the active practice of medicine or has not been enrolled in a medical program for two years prior to application must submit proof of professional capacity (currently competency to practice) to the Medical Board.
- The disciplinary statute of limitations has been extended in medical negligence cases that are reported to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) because of a civil malpractice settlement or final judgment. Previously, IDFPR had only two years from receiving notice of the settlement or judgment to file formal disciplinary proceedings. Now, the Department has five years from receipt of that report and is not barred by the previous 10-year cap – even if the underlying treatment occurred more than 10 years earlier.
- For the first time, the Medical Practice Act has added a specific time requirement for retaining patient records. The Act now states a physician shall retain all medical records of adult patients not appropriately transferred to another physician or entity for at least 6 years after the last date of service for each patient, except as otherwise required by law. A physician shall retain all medical records of minor patients not appropriately transferred to another physician or entity for at least 6 years after the last date of service for each patient or until the patient reaches the age of 21, whichever date is longer, except as otherwise required by law.
The Illinois Chiropractic Society participates in the legislative process daily when lawmakers are in session, reviewing the thousands of bills that are introduced each year and sharing our positions with legislators. In the case of HB 5387, IDFPR shared its draft of the bill with the ICS for our review and input prior to its introduction. The ICS worked with other healthcare provider groups and offered our suggestions for changes to what we believed could be burdensome or confusing revisions. The ICS’ suggested changes were incorporated in the legislation before it was formally introduced, demonstrating the positive impact of our presence in the legislative process.
