BILL NUMBER: AB 386 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Galgiani
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
An act to add Section 5023.3 to the Penal Code, relating to
prisoners.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 386, as amended, Galgiani. Prisons: telemedicine
telehealth systems.
Existing law, the Telemedicine Development Act of 1996, regulates
the practice of telemedicine, defined as the practice of health care
delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of medical
data, and education using interactive audio, video, or data
communications, by a health care practitioner, as defined. Existing
law establishes that it is the intent of the Legislature that the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operate in the most
cost-effective and efficient manner possible when purchasing health
care services for inmates.
This bill would state the Legislature's findings and declarations
on the use of telemedicine telehealth
in the state's prisons. This bill would require the department, by
January 1, 2013, to include protocols within its existing guidelines
for determining when telemedicine telehealth
services are appropriate, and would require the department to
require an operational telemedicine
telehealth services program at all adult institutions by
January 1, 2016. The bill would require the department to schedule a
patient for an evaluation with a distant physician when it is
determined to be medically necessary, and would allow the department
to use telemedicine telehealth only
when it is in the best interest of the health and safety of the
inmate patient. The bill would require the department to ensure that
telemedicine shall telehealth not be
used to supplant civil service physicians and dentists , and
also to permit the department to contract with San Joaquin General
Hospital for telemedicine services .
The bill would require the department to report to the
Legislature, as provided, by March 1, 2013, and every year
thereafter, regarding the department's implementation of statewide
telemedicine telehealth services. This
bill would render this reporting requirement inoperative on March 1,
2018.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to require the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement and maintain the use
of telemedicine telehealth in state
prisons.
(b) Telemedicine Telehealth improves
inmates' access to health care by enabling correctional systems to
expand their provider network to include physicians located outside
the immediate vicinity of prisons, particularly for inmates housed in
remote areas of the state with shortages of health care.
(c) The department's prison telemedicine
telehealth program began in 1997 as a pilot project for mental
health inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison and was successful at
improving inmates' access to mental health care. Accordingly, the
department decided to expand the program to provide mental health as
well as medical specialty services at other prisons. Currently, all
of the state prisons are equipped to provide basic
telemedicine telehealth services.
SEC. 2. Section 5023.3 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
5023.3. (a) In order to maximize the benefits that come with the
use of telemedicine telehealth in the
state's prisons, the department shall do all of the following:
(1) By January 1, 2013, include within the department's existing
guidelines , protocols for determining when
telemedicine telehealth services are medically
appropriate and in the best interest of the health and safety of the
inmate patient.
(2) Require, by January 1, 2016, an operational
telemedicine telehealth services program at all
adult institutions within the department. The program shall include
all of the following:
(A) Specific goals and objectives for maintaining and expanding
services and encounters provided by the telemedicine
te lehealth services program,
including store and forward telemedicine
telehealth technology.
(B) An information technology support infrastructure that will
allow telemedicine telehealth to be
used at each adult prison.
(C) Specific guidelines for determining when and where
telemedicine telehealth would be the preferred
delivery method for health care.
(D) Guidelines and protocols for appropriate use and expansion of
store and forward telemedicine telehealth
technology in state prisons. For purposes of this section,
"store and forward telemedicine" telehealth"
means the transmission of medical information to be reviewed at
a later time and at a distant site by a physician without the
patient being present.
(3) Schedule a patient for evaluation with a distant physician via
telemedicine telehealth if and when it
is determined that it is medically necessary.
(4) Utilize telemedicine telehealth
only when it is in the best interest of the health and safety of the
inmate patient.
(5) Ensure that telemedicine telehealth
shall not be used to supplant civil service physician and
dental positions.
(b) The department is authorized to contract with the San Joaquin
General Hospital for telemedicine services.
(c)
(b) (1) On March 1, 2013, and each March 1 thereafter,
the department shall report all of the following to the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee, the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations, the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Assembly
Committee on Health, the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, the
Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Budget
and Fiscal Review, the Senate Committee on Health, and the Senate
Committee on Public Safety:
(A) The extent to which the department achieved the objectives
set forth in developed pursuant to this
section, as well as the most significant reasons for achieving or
not achieving those objectives.
(B) The extent to which the department is operating a statewide
telemedicine telehealth services
program, as set forth in this section, that provides
telemedicine telehealth services to every adult
prison within the department, as well as the most significant reasons
for achieving or not achieving those objectives
that objective .
(C) A description of planned and implemented initiatives necessary
to accomplish the next 12 months' objectives for achieving the goals
set forth in developed pursuant to
this section.
(2) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under this
subdivision is inoperative on March 1, 2018, pursuant to Section
10231.5 of the Government Code.