Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill Friday that allows the state to tap significant federal dollars and speed payments to thousands of Illinois based hospitals. The new law, the governor says, will improve the financial health of the state's hospitals, which treat thousands of patients and are major employers. House Bill 452 creates a special program that uses enhanced federal match available from the Hospital Assessment Program to make 120 million dollars in one time federal assistance payments to hospitals which treat high volumes of medicaid patients and rural access hospitals. The law also helps the state use increased federal funding to pay medicaid bills owed to other providers, such as pharmacists.