BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1070
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 1070 (Hill) - As Amended: April 22, 2009
SUBJECT : Healing arts.
SUMMARY : Makes revisions to the 801.1 reporting process of
settlement, judgment or arbitration awards related to the
practice of medicine. . Specifically, this bill :
1)Consolidates reporting requirements to specify that the
entity, person, or licensee required to report send a copy of
the report to the claimant or to his or her counsel if the
claimant is represented by counsel.
2)Increases the minimum fine for failure to comply with the
reporting requirements from $50 to $500 and the maximum from
$500 to $5,000.
3)Deletes the fines related to a knowing and intentional failure
to comply with the reporting requirements, or conspiracy or
collusion not to comply, or hindering or impeding another's
compliance with the reporting requirements.
4)Requires a report to include:
a) The date of the alleged occurrence and the licensee's
role in the care or professional services provided to the
patient with respect to those services at issue in the
claim or action; and,
b) A copy of the judgment.
5)Requires any entity making a report to, within 15 days after
filing the report, notify the licensee that the report was
filed with the appropriate licensing board.
6)Prohibits any entity that provides early intervention, patient
safety, or risk management programs to patients, or contracts
for those programs for patients, from including, as part of
any of those programs or contracts, any of the following:
a) A provision that prohibits a patient or patients from
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contacting or cooperating with the board;
b) A provision that prohibits a patient or patients from
filing a complaint with the board; or,
c) A provision that requires a patient or patients to
withdraw a complaint that has been filed with the board.
7)Permits the president of the Medical Board of California (MBC)
to be a member of any panels necessary to carry out the work
of the MBC if there is a vacancy in the membership of the MBC.
8)Requires all medical records requested by the MBC to be
certified.
9)Places a cap of $10,000 on the penalty that can be assessed on
a physician for not complying with the MBC's request for
certified medical records.
10)Permits an administrative law judge to recommend the issuance
of a public reprimand that includes additional education and
training in a proposed decision.
11)Specifies that licensees must report to the MBC, both at the
time of renewal and upon initial licensure:
a) information regarding any specialty board certifications
he or she holds that is issued by a member of the Board of
American Specialties or approved by the MBC;
b) his or her practice status; and, if desired,
c) his or her cultural background and foreign language
proficiency.
12)Defines the following terms:
a) "certified medical records" means a copy of the
patient's medical records authenticated by the licensee or
health care facility, as appropriate, on a form prescribed
by the board;
b) "licensee" means a licensee of the MBC, the Osteopathic
Medical Board of California, or the California Board of
Podiatric Medicine.
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c) "state governmental agency" includes the University of
California for purposes of reporting medical settlements.
13)Declares Legislative intent.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides for the licensure and regulation of osteopathic
physicians and surgeons by the Osteopathic Medical Board of
California, physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of
California, and podiatrists by the California Board of
Podiatric Medicine.
2)Requires those licensees, insurers providing professional
liability insurance to those licensees, and governmental
agencies that self-insure those licensees to report specified
settlements, arbitration awards, or civil judgments to the
licensee's board if based on the licensee's alleged
negligence, error, or omission in practice or his or her
rendering of unauthorized professional services.
3)Requires licensees and insurers required to make these reports
to send a copy of the report to the claimant or his or her
counsel and requires a claimant or his or her counsel who does
not receive a copy of the report within a specified time
period to make the report to the appropriate board.
4)Makes a failure of a licensee, claimant, or counsel to comply
with these requirements a public offense punishable by a
specified fine.
5)Existing law prescribes the disciplinary action that may be
taken against a physician and surgeon or podiatrist. Among
other things, existing law authorizes the licensee to be
publicly reprimanded.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office, "In
certain settings when a person sustains injury resulting from
services rendered by professional staff, the hospital or an
insurance group may choose to offer the patient an amount of
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money to cover the costs of the future treatment in order to
eliminate the need for a malpractice claim. When such action is
taken, the matter is not reported to the MBC because it does not
fit into the criteria set forth in Business and Professions Code
section 801.01, as a civil case has not been filed. However,
this does not negate the need for the MBC to investigate the
matter, if the injury allegedly occurred due to the actions of a
physician and surgeon.
"The intent of the reporting malpractice settlements, judgments,
or arbitration awards to the MBC is to ensure consumer
protection by reviewing the care and treatment for the physician
and surgeon involved in the care provided to the patient. ? The
MBC ?.does with to be notified of physicians and surgeons whose
care may fall below the standard."
Background . The sponsors, the MBC, made changes to the 801.01
reporting requirements because they believe there are some
entities that are not reporting appropriately. These changes to
current law attempt to share reporting responsibility from the
physician and surgeon to other parties in the process and put a
priority on consumer protection. The MBC offers the following
explanation for the other amendments:
l Currently, the Board President is not permitted to sit
on a panel. When the Board does not have enough members to
fill both panels, usually due to term expirations, it is
often the case that Board members must serve on two
disciplinary panels at the same time in order to have a
quorum with which to take action. Allowing the Board
President to sit on a panel would expedite the process of
decision making and reduce the workload for the members who
are sitting on more than one panel.
l When the Board requests medical records upon initial
complaint, certified records are requested but not always
provided. The initial review can be performed without
certified records, however, if the complaint goes to
investigation, the Board will need certified medical
records. Currently, the Board often has to request medical
records more than once, which prolongs the process of
investigation. Requiring the requested medical records to
be certified would expedite the process of review and
investigation of complaints. The board has a form that can
be filled out to certify the records and the provider of
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the records can ask the board to send its copy service thus
reducing the cost to the physician or entity.
l Puts a cap of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) on the
penalty that can be assessed a physician for not complying
with the Board's request for medical records. Currently
the penalty is one thousand dollars ($1,000) a day for not
complying with the request for medical records. This cap
is the same as what is in current law for hospitals.
l Allows an administrative law judge to recommend the
issuance of a public reprimand that includes additional
education and training in a proposed decision. Currently,
when the Medical Board feels the appropriate level of
discipline for a physician is a public letter of reprimand
with required training or education, prior to the filing of
an Accusation, the Medical Board may issue the physician a
public letter of reprimand that includes the additional
education or training requirements. However, if the
Medical Board has filed an accusation against a physician
and the accusation is heard by an administrative law judge,
the law does not allow the administrative law judge to
recommend a public reprimand to be issued to the physician
with a training or education requirement.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Medical Board of California (sponsor)
Opposition
California Medical Association
Analysis Prepared by : Sarah Huchel / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301