BILL NUMBER: AB 386 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2011
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: 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 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 telehealth
services are appropriate, and would require the department to require
an operational 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 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 telehealth not be used to supplant
civil service physicians and dentists.
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
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 telehealth in state prisons.
(b) 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 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 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 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 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 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 telehealth services program,
including store and forward telehealth technology.
(B) An information technology support infrastructure that will
allow telehealth to be used at each adult prison.
(C) Specific guidelines for determining when and where telehealth
would be the preferred delivery method for health care.
(D) Guidelines and protocols for appropriate use and expansion of
store and forward telehealth technology in state prisons. For
purposes of this section, "store and forward 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
telehealth if and when it is determined that it is medically
necessary.
(4) Utilize telehealth only when it is in the best interest of the
health and safety of the inmate patient.
(5) Ensure that telehealth shall not be used to supplant civil
service physician and dental positions.
(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
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
telehealth services program, as set forth in this section, that
provides telehealth services to every adult prison within the
department, as well as the most significant reasons for achieving or
not achieving that objective.
(C) A description of planned and implemented initiatives necessary
to accomplish the next 12 months' objectives for achieving the goals
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.
(c) As used in this section, "telehealth" is defined as the mode
of delivering health care services and public health via information
and communication technologies to facilitate the diagnosis,
consultation, treatment, education, care management, and
self-management of a patient's health care while the patient is at
the originating site and the health care provider is at a distant
site. Telehealth facilitates patient self-management and caregiver
support for patients and includes synchronous interactions and
asynchronous store and forward transfers.