BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1127|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1127
Author: Brownley (D)
Amended: 4/4/11 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS, PROF & ECON DEVELOP COMM : 8-0, 06/06/11
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez, Negrete
McLeod, Vargas, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 66-8, 05/12/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Physicians and surgeons: unprofessional
conduct
SOURCE : Medical Board of California
DIGEST : This bill makes it unprofessional conduct for a
physician and surgeon to repeatedly fail, in the absence of
good cause, to attend and participate in an interview
scheduled by the mutual agreement of the physician and
surgeon and the Medical Board of California (MBC). This
bill states that this provision applies only to a physician
and surgeon who is the subject of an investigation by the
MBC.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
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1.Establishes the Medical Practice Act, administered by the
MBC to regulate the practice of physicians and surgeons.
2.Establishes the Health Quality Enforcement Section within
the Attorney General's Office to prosecute disciplinary
cases on behalf of the MBC.
3.Requires the MBC to take any action against any physician
and surgeon who is charged with unprofessional conduct.
4.States that unprofessional conduct includes, but is not
limited to, the following:
A. Violating or attempting to violate, directly or
indirectly, assisting in or abetting the violation of,
or conspiring to violate any provisions of the Medical
Practice Act.
B. Gross negligence.
C. Repeated negligent acts, as specified.
D. Incompetence.
E. The commission of any act involving dishonesty or
corruption which is substantially related to the
qualifications, functions, or duties of a physician
and surgeon.
F. Any action or conduct which would have warranted
the denial of a certificate.
G. The practice of medicine from this state into
another state or country without meeting the legal
requirements of that state or country for the practice
of medicine, as specified.
This bill:
1.Makes it unprofessional conduct for a physician and
surgeon to repeatedly fail, in the absence of good cause,
to attend and participate in an interview scheduled by
the mutual agreement of the physician and surgeon and the
MBC.
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2.States that the above provision applies only to a
physician and surgeon who is the subject of an
investigation by the MBC.
Background
SB 1950 (Figueroa), Chapter 1085, Statutes of 2002, among
other provisions, required the appointment of an
independent enforcement monitor to evaluate MBC's
enforcement system and establish a priority system for the
investigation of complaints against physicians. The
Monitor's initial report, released in 2004, entitled
Initial Report of the Medical Board Enforcement Program,
made numerous findings and 65 specific recommendations for
reform. One of the findings was that the policies for
subject interviews, which are a key part of the
investigative process, are inconsistent and ineffective.
As a result, during 2003-2004, an average of 60 days
elapsed between MBC's request for an interview and the
physician's appearance or refusal to appear. The Monitor
recommended that MBC and the Health Quality Enforcement
Section agree upon and consistently enforce a new policy
requiring prompt physician cooperation with interview
requests and regular tape-recording of interviews. In
response to this recommendation, MBC's enforcement staff
revised its Enforcement Operations Manual section 6.2 to
institute new subject interview policies and deadlines.
According to the Monitor, implementation of these new
policies has somewhat reduced the interview delay: In 2004
- 2005, the average time between initial request and actual
subject interview was 57 days; the average time between
request and interview refusal was 49 days. Although these
figures are down slightly from the overall average of 60
days in 2003 - 2004, they still represent a large portion
of the undesirable lengthy investigative timeframe.
According to the MBC, this bill further addresses the
delays that occur when physicians repeatedly and
purposefully fail to appear before the MBC after scheduling
interviews absent good cause.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
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SUPPORT : (Verified 6/27/11)
Medical Board of California (source)
Center for Public Interest Law
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Medical Board of California
states that current law authorizes it to license and
regulate the practices of physicians and enforce penalties
against violators. However, unlike other healing arts
boards and the State Bar of California, there is no law
that authorizes the MBC to impose penalties on physicians
who refuse to participate in interviews at the beginning of
an investigation. According to the MBC, repeated failure
of a physician to participate in interviews must be
included in the definition of "unprofessional conduct"
because despite best practices by the MBC to dismiss
frivolous complaints and pursue those that warrant formal
accusations, there have been documented delays in
investigations as some physicians have repeatedly and
purposefully failed to appear before the MBC after
scheduling interviews absent good cause. This has resulted
in cases being delayed between 60 days to over one year.
MBC indicates that over the last three years, it has been
forced to issue 338 subpoenas to compel participation of
these physicians (representing nearly 10% of all cases),
wasting valuable staff time and resources. The MBC
believes this bill will help expedite the closure of
disciplinary cases by providing an incentive for physicians
to cooperate and participate in physician interviews.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 66-8, 05/12/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Eng,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Lara,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell,
Monning, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Harkey, Jones, Knight,
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Mansoor, Morrell
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Garrick, Gorell, Portantino,
Torres, Valadao
JJA:nl 6/27/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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