BILL NUMBER: AB 583	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 24, 2010
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 25, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 20, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 17, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 8, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 22, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hayashi

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add Section 680.5 to the Business and Professions Code,
relating to health care practitioners.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 583, Hayashi. Health care practitioners: disclosure of
education.
   Existing law requires a health care practitioner to disclose,
while working, his or her name and practitioner's license status on a
name tag in at least 18-point type or to prominently display his or
her license in his or her office, except as specified.
   This bill would require each of those health care practitioners to
disclose the type of license and, except as specified, the highest
level of academic degree he or she holds either in a prominent
display in his or her office or in writing, in a specified format
given to a patient on his or her initial office visit. The bill would
require a physician and surgeon, and an osteopathic physician and
surgeon, who is certified in a medical specialty, as specified, to
also disclose, in either of those manners the name of the certifying
board or association. The bill would exempt specified health care
practitioners, including, without limitation, persons working in
certain licensed laboratories and health care facilities, as
specified, from these requirements.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 680.5 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
   680.5.  (a) (1) A health care practitioner licensed under Division
2 (commencing with Section 500) shall communicate to a patient his
or her name, state-granted practitioner license type, and highest
level of academic degree, by one or both of the following methods:
   (A) In writing at the patient's initial office visit.
   (B) In a prominent display in an area visible to patients in his
or her office.
   (2) An individual licensed under Chapter 6 (commencing with
Section 2700) or Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 4000) is not
required to disclose the highest level of academic degree he or she
holds.
   (b) A person licensed under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
2000) or under the Osteopathic Act, who is certified by (1) an
American Board of Medical Specialties member board, (2) a board or
association with requirements equivalent to a board described in
paragraph (1) approved by that person's medical licensing authority,
or (3) a board or association with an Accreditation Council for
Graduate Medical Education approved postgraduate training program
that provides complete training in the person's specialty or
subspecialty, shall disclose the name of the board or association by
either method described in subdivision (a).
   (c) A health care practitioner who chooses to disclose the
information required by subdivisions (a) and (b) pursuant to
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall present
that information in at least 24-point type in the following format:
    HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONER INFORMATION
1. Name and license........................... .
2. Highest level of academic degree........... .
3. Board certification (ABMS/MBC)............. .


   (d) This section shall not apply to the following health care
practitioners:
   (1) A person who provides professional medical services to
enrollees of a health care service plan that exclusively contracts
with a single medical group in a specific geographic area to provide
or arrange for professional medical services for the enrollees of the
plan.
   (2) A person who works in a facility licensed under Section 1250
of the Health and Safety Code or in a clinical laboratory licensed
under Section 1265.
   (3) A person licensed under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section
1200), Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 3300), Chapter 8.3
(commencing with Section 3700), Chapter 11 (commencing with Section
4800), Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 4980), or Chapter 14
(commencing with Section 4990.1).
   (e) A health care practitioner, who provides information regarding
health care services on an Internet Web site that is directly
controlled or administered by that health care practitioner or his or
her office personnel, shall prominently display on that Internet Web
site the information required by this section.