BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1867 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1867 (Pan) - As Amended: March 29, 2012 Policy Committee: HealthVote:17-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill delays the implementation of a prohibition on hospitals' use of certain connector devices for intravenous (IV), epidural, and enteral feeding systems until January 1, 2016. FISCAL EFFECT Negligible state fiscal impact. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . According to the author, hospitals and other healthcare facilities depend on a variety of catheters, tubing, and syringes to deliver medications and other substances to patients through vascular, enteral feeding, respiratory, and epidural delivery systems. Because many connectors are interchangeable, the potential exists for serious medical errors if different systems are connected mistakenly. The author indicates an international effort led by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is underway to develop and implement standards for non-interchangeable connectors. Once the ISO process is complete, according to the author, international standards will be established to facilitate correct connections and eliminate incompatible tubing misconnections. The ISO process is projected to be complete in mid-2014 and hospitals estimate it will take 18 months to bring to market and install new systems. AB 1867 Page 2 2)Prior Legislation . SB 158 (Florez), Chapter 294, Statutes of 2008, addressed a number of patient safety issues, including a requirement that, as of January 1, 2011, health facilities must use separate unique connectors for IV, enteral feeding and epidural connections to prevent adverse events associated with misconnections. AB 818 (Hernandez), Chapter 476, Statutes of 2009, delayed the effective dates in SB 158 (Florez) and established new deadlines - January 1, 2013 for enteral feeding and IV connections and January 1, 2014 for epidural connections or by a period of time following the publication of new ISO design standards. Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081