It's been a Tuesday ritual for years: The Rev. William Mannion gets a list of hospitalized church members and stops by and checks on them.
But Mannion, pastor of Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Rosemont, and all other suburban clergy now are prohibited from getting the names of their members from hospital officials.
Starting Monday, a new federal privacy law prevents outsiders from having access to hospital directories.
"It really does present a bit of a problem," said Mannion, who has relied on the lists from three area hospitals to learn exactly who among his church members is in the hospital.
Just last week, patients were asked their religious affiliation or place of worship when they were admitted. Hospitals then would share that information with clergy, who often would stop by unannounced to offer prayer and encouragement to their members or those who practice the same faith.
Now clergy must first have permission from the patients through the new Health Care Portability and Accountability Act. Known as HIPPA, it is a 1996 law now being enforced. The rules require hospital officials to protect patient medical information and lets them decide if they want to be listed in hospital directories.
If patients don't agree to be in the directory, officials won't even confirm patients are in the hospital. In the past, they were listed automatically, allowing the media or others access to get their one-word condition report.
HIPPA also gives patients a say in whether they'll get a visit from their pastors, imams, rabbis and other community clergy. The law goes a long way in protecting a patient's right to privacy about their medical status, said attorney Michael Callahan, health care partner at Chicago's KMZ Rosenman law firm.
"You might say, 'I have HIV and I don't want Father Mike to come see me, " he said. "And they (hospital officials) have to abide by that."
Callahan said there are many ailments patients don't want to share with acquaintances or clergy. That's why hospital officials no longer can confirm whether someone is in intensive care or the psychiatric ward, for instance.
In the past, clergy making daily hospital rounds could simply show up and find out who, from their religious affiliation, was in the hospital.
That type of visit sometimes was welcomed, though Mannion admits it also would scare a few patients.
"They'd say, 'Why is the priest coming? Am I sicker than they say?"
Other times people didn't want the visit but didn't know how to turn away the clergy, said Pat Hoover, a chaplain at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.
She said the new law will help with that.
"You come in with the idea that it's confidential," she said. "There are many reasons people might not want anyone to know they're here. Some people have been away from the church; others think a visit will be too much of a bother."
While many hospital officials say the new law offers patient choice and a cultural change, several said they don't anticipate drastic declines in the number of people listed in the directory.
"I don't expect it will change much," said James Croegaert, chaplain and coordinator of spiritual services at Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago. "I expect 5 percent or less will say they don't want to be part of the directory."
Judith Miller, chief privacy officer for Advocate Health Care Systems, agreed that a vast majority of patients probably could not care less, but they, by law, must be given the option.
"What this HIPPA law is really doing in this area is really giving the authority to the patient, rather than you, me or the clergy," Miller said.
The hospital system she works for is sending letters to clergy and also has been informing patients about the change. And officials must make sure the patients who want the clergy visits will get them, too.
During one of her recent rounds of visits to explain the new law to patients, Alexian Brothers' Hoover was told by Shelby Frenden of Elk Grove Village that she would welcome a visit from the pastor of the Catholic church she attends.
"All I want is for people to pray for me," said Frenden, in the hospital for a fractured shoulder and other ailments.
Rabbi Marla Spanjer of Congregation Etz Chaim of DuPage County in Lombard said she sees the new law as positive and negative.
"I can see where it's kind of a shame because clergy can enter (patients') lives and offer them something they didn't know was available to them," she said. "On the other hand, this could stop overly zealous clergy who seize on it as an opportunity to evangelize when a person's defenses are down."