BILL NUMBER: SB 630	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 29, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 18, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 4, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Alquist
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Gordon)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to add Section 1317.10 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 630, as amended, Alquist. Hospitals: licensure.
   Existing law provides for the licensure of health facilities,
including general acute care hospitals, by the State Department of
Public Health.
   Existing law requires emergency services and care to be provided
to any person requesting the services or care, or for whom services
or care is requested, for any condition in which the person is in
danger of loss of life, or serious injury or illness, at any licensed
health facility that maintains and operates an emergency department
to provide emergency services to the public when the health facility
has appropriate facilities and qualified personnel available to
provide the services or care.
   Existing law prohibits the transfer of a person needing emergency
services and care from one hospital to another for any nonmedical
reason, unless specified conditions are met, including a requirement
that the person be examined and evaluated by a physician and surgeon.
Existing law defines active labor to mean labor  where
  in which  either there is inadequate time to
effect safe transfer to another hospital prior to delivery or the
transfer may pose a health and safety threat to the patient or the
unborn child.
   This bill would require, notwithstanding the above-described
prohibition, for purposes of providing emergency services and care to
patients with conditions related to active labor presenting to the
emergency department of Stanford Hospital and Clinics, that Stanford
Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at
Stanford be treated as a single licensed facility if the 2 hospitals
have entered into a specified agreement and other specified
conditions are met. These conditions would include a medical
determination that the patient may be transported safely and the
patient has not refused transfer. The bill also would make findings
and declarations regarding the necessity for a special statute.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. 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) Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's
Hospital at Stanford have a unique circumstance in which both
hospitals are colocated on the same hospital campus. The hospitals
occupy adjacent buildings that are physically attached inpatient
facilities connected by an interior corridor so that passage from the
emergency department at Stanford Hospital and Clinics to the
obstetrics unit at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford
does not require exposure to the external environment.
   (b) The emergency physicians at Stanford Hospital and Clinics and
the obstetricians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford
have clinical privileges to practice at both hospitals.
   (c) Stanford Hospital and Clinics does not have an obstetrics unit
and is not licensed for perinatal services but Lucile Packard
Children's Hospital at Stanford does have an obstetrics unit and is
licensed for perinatal services.
   (d) Without this special statute, patients in active labor who
arrive at the Stanford Hospital and Clinics emergency department can
face up to a 90-minute delay to satisfy the existing law's
requirements to be transferred to the obstetrics unit at Lucile
Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
   (e) Due to the unique physical arrangement between Stanford
Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at
Stanford, the average time to transport a patient from the emergency
department at Stanford Hospital and Clinics to the obstetrics unit at
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford is five minutes.
   (f) On average, 29 patients arrive at the Stanford Hospital and
Clinics emergency department each month in active labor and in need
of perinatal services.
   (g) These patients and their unborn children would receive
appropriate care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford
because of the dedicated obstetrics unit.
   (h) It is in the interest of the state and women and children to
provide the timely transfer of women in active labor who arrive at
the Stanford Hospital and Clinics emergency department to the
obstetrics unit at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1317.10 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   1317.10.  Notwithstanding Sections 1317 and 1317.2, Stanford
Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at
Stanford shall be treated as a single licensed facility for purposes
of providing emergency services and care to patients with conditions
related to active labor presenting to the emergency department at
Stanford Hospital and Clinics if all of the following conditions are
met:
   (a) The two hospitals have entered into an agreement in which
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford accepts and provides
emergency services and care to all patients who are in active labor
presenting to the emergency department at Stanford Hospital and
Clinics, without regard to insurance status, financial status, or
other nonclinical factors.
   (b) A physician and surgeon, qualified emergency department
registered nurse, or other  appropriate  
appropriately licensed  personnel under the supervision of a
physician and surgeon determines, prior to the transfer, that the
patient has signs or  symptoms   symptoms, 
or  both   both,  suggestive of active
labor, the patient can be safely transferred from the emergency
department at Stanford Hospital and Clinics to the labor and delivery
department of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, and
 that  the patient does not have a condition,
illness, or injury more appropriately treated in the emergency
department.
   (c) The patient has the right to refuse the transfer.
   (d) Each hospital has a prepared plan to promptly transport the
patient with an employee escort who has specialized training in
transporting women in labor.
  SEC. 3.  The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the unique circumstances where Stanford Hospital and
Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford are
physically attached inpatient facility buildings connected by an
interior corridor so that passage from the emergency department at
Stanford Hospital and Clinics to the obstetrics unit at Lucile
Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford does not require exposure to
the external environment.
  SEC. 4.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to more expeditiously transfer patients who are
presenting labor conditions to a hospital that may provide more
specialized labor care, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.