A sweeping bill that would expand reporting requirements related to sexual misconduct allegations against health care workers and impose fines for failure to report serious incidents gained initial approval from a House committee Wednesday.

The bill follows a Tribune investigation last year that exposed how Illinois health care systems failed to protect patients from sexual abuse and how state government failed to hold them accountable.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, the bill’s sponsor, said during the hearing that the legislation will close a “critical gap” in communication and could “prevent dangerous behaviors from being hidden or left unaddressed within health care settings.” She referenced the Tribune investigation while presenting the initial version of the bill Wednesday.

The Tribune series identified multiple well-known Illinois health systems that had fielded allegations of sexual abuse but allowed those physicians, nurses and other workers to continue caring for patients.

The reporting also exposed gaps in state oversight of the health care industry that left patients vulnerable to harm.

One story in the series revealed how Endeavor Health allowed obstetrician and gynecologist Fabio Ortega to continue seeing patients despite complaints about his conduct and after learning that he was under police investigation.

Ortega later pleaded guilty to felony criminal sexual abuse of two patients. The doctor was accused of abuse by dozens of former patients, and Endeavor Health has settled more than 75 lawsuits related to those allegations.

In November the health system disclosed it was spending $453 million on “costs, expenses and settlement of claims” related to a doctor it did not name accused of sexually abusing patients.

Cassidy noted that while the legislature passed a bill last year that addressed one issue — a law that expanded which health care facilities must report patient abuse allegations to the Illinois Department of Public Health — “the problem goes well beyond that.”

The new bill would require that health professionals who witness or hear about sexual misconduct by health care workers to report it to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which oversees health care workers’ licenses, within 24 hours.

Health institutions would also be required to report allegations of misconduct to IDFPR within 24 hours of initiating an investigation into alleged misconduct, or when a worker is terminated or resigns following an allegation of misconduct.

It would impose fines of $25,000 to $75,000 for failure to report and then place that money into a sexual assault survivors fund.

The bill also expands reporting requirements for law enforcement, instructing law enforcement agencies to notify IDFPR within 30 days of opening an investigation into a licensed health care worker, arresting a health care worker or filing felony or serious misdemeanor charges against the person.