Amended in Assembly April 1, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 852

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

February 21, 2013

An act to add Section 129788 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to health facilities.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 852, as amended, Quirk. Skilled nursing facility construction, alteration, or addition: review.

Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, requires design and construction standards for hospital buildings that house patients who have less than the capacity of normally healthy persons to protect themselves. Existing law also requires that those standards specify that hospitals must be reasonably capable of providing services to the public after a disaster.

Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to approve or reject all plans for the construction or alteration of a hospital building. Existing law specifically requires the office, contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to establish a program for training fire and life safety officers to facilitate the timely performance of the office’s duties and responsibilities relating to the review of plans and specifications pertaining to the design and observation of construction of hospital buildings, as specified. Existing law authorizes the office to establish other training programs as necessary to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified persons are available to facilitate the timely performance of the office’s duties and responsibilities, as specified.

This bill would begin delete set specific end delete begin insert require end insert OSHPD begin insert , except as prescribed, to develop, with stakeholders, reasonable timeframes for end insert review and approval begin delete timeframes for end delete begin insert of end insert skilled nursing facility construction, alteration, or addition begin insert projects end insert and would authorize the office to assess a reasonable fee for this review begin insert , as specified end insert . The bill would authorize the office to seek outside assistance through contracts with qualified professional architectural or engineering firms to meet begin delete the end delete begin insert those end insert review turnaround times begin delete required by this bill. end delete begin insert or coordinate with local building officials to delegate jurisdiction on specific types of projects. The bill would require OSHP end insert begin insert D to monitor document submissions related to new or comparable design concepts meeting approval requirements and, when feasible, publish standard requirements for use by sta end insert begin insert keholders. The bill would require OSHPD to work with sta end insert begin insert keholders to establish education and out end insert begin insert reach programs directed at reducing document submission error rates and turnaround times. end insert

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) A variety of factors have contributed to making health care
construction costs in California among the highest in the nation.
The costs are driven by the escalating price of raw materials, high
demand for skilled labor, and the complexity of design, plan
review, and approval of skilled nursing facility construction.

(b) Skilled nursing facilities are licensed health care facilities
that care for the state’s most fragile and vulnerable citizens.

(c) The physical infrastructure and related systems of these
licensed health facilities are governed by building and fire and life
safety code requirements regulated by the Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development, the Office of the State Fire
Marshal, and the State Department of Public Health.

(d) As the industry moves to update the aging health care
infrastructure, incorporate advances in medical technology,
implement a modern health care delivery system, and improve
electronic medical records systems, health care construction activity
will increase to unseen levels, creating additional economic
pressure on the skilled nursing and construction industry.

(e) Licensed health care facilities are required to go through a
building application and plan check process under the jurisdiction
of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

(f) This process is bureaucratically efficient, but is subject to
inherent delays impacting timely approvals of projects. Although
the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has
developed internal policies that set timeframes for plan review and
approval, these policies are targets rather than enforceable
requirements.

(g) Improving the efficiency of health care building plan review
and construction efforts will not only reduce the time to design,
review, and complete facility construction, but also lower the cost
of the project and reduce overall cost pressures on the health care
system, allowing more resources to be directed to direct patient
services.

(h) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to codify the
timeframes and due dates for completion by the Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development of the review of facility
construction documents and to require the office to notify
applicants of the anticipated date the review will be completed and
returned to them.

SEC. 2.  

Section 129788 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:

129788.  

(a) Documents submitted to the office for new
construction of, alteration of, or additions to, health facilities
licensed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1250, begin insert shall include
the name and contact information for an individual designated to
be the project coordinator, and end insert shall be reviewed and approved
within the timeframes established by this section.

(b)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert Upon receipt of the documents submitted pursuant to
subdivision (a), each submittal shall be logged in by the office and
given begin delete an end delete preliminary review within 48 hours by begin delete architects,
engineers, and fire and life safety officers end delete begin insert designated qualified
professional staff end insert of the office begin insert familiar with health facilities
providing skilled nursing care end insert to determine if the submittal is
complete.

begin insert

(2) Within 48 hours, the office shall notify the project
coordinator telephonically if the submittal is incomplete and of
the specific documents that may be missing or require correction.

end insert begin insert

(3) Upon notification, the project coordinator may request the
submittal to be returned for correction and resubmission, or an
appointment with the office to meet and deliver any missing
documents or make corrections to the documents as necessary to
meet the requirements of the office.

end insert

(c) For projects not qualifying for rapid review under Section
129856, the Facilities Development Division shall meet begin delete the
following timeframes: end delete begin insert reasonable timeframes developed by the
office, in conjunction with stakeholders, that include all of the
following end insert begin insert : end insert

(1) First review of new projects begin delete and deferred items shall be
completed within 30 days end delete .

(2) Backchecks begin delete shall be completed within 15 days end delete .

(3) Amended construction documents begin delete shall be completed within
15 days end delete .

(d) New projects that qualify for review by the Rapid Review
Unit shall be completed within begin insert an average of end insert 15 business days. begin delete Projects qualify if they are new projects up to a maximum
estimated construction cost between one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000) and one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars
($175,000), dependent upon the unit’s fluctuating workload. Rapid
review does not apply to any of the following: end delete

begin delete

(1) Existing projects that were initially reviewed by a regional
office, including backchecks, post approval documents (PADs),
and deferred items (DI’s).

(2) Projects requiring an alternate method of compliance.

(3) Projects having equipment missing required project numbers
for special seismic certification.

(e) For projects that include primary gravity or lateral load
elements or systems, structural shall be completed within 30 days
for first reviews and 15 days for deferred item reviews. Backchecks
for these projects shall be completed within 15 days.

(f) The review schedules for managed projects will be negotiated
between the office and the applicants.

(g)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert e) end insert  The office shall charge a reasonable fee for the review and
approval of plans submitted pursuant to this begin delete subdivision end delete begin insert section end insert .
This fee shall be based on the estimated cost, begin insert including costs
associated with the designated qualified professional staff, end insert but
shall not exceed the reasonable cost of the entire phased review
and approval process for those plans.

begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert f) end insert  The project cost threshold under subdivision (a) of Section
129880 shall be increased to one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000) without regard to the cost of equipment or other items
not related to the actual repair or construction costs.

begin delete

(i)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert g) end insert  In order to meet the review turnaround times required by
this section, the office may seek outside assistance through
contracts with qualified professional architectural or engineering
firms begin insert , or coordinate with local building officials to delegate
jurisdiction on specific types of projects end insert .

begin insert

(h) The office shall monitor document submissions related to
new or comparable design concepts meeting approval requirements
and, when feasible, publish standard requirements for use by
stakeholders. Design concepts may include new construction,
renovation, or replacement.

end insert begin insert

(i) Design concepts to be considered under subdivision (h) may
include, but are not limited to, reduction in beds; installation and
use of new technology, such as electronic medical records; space
conversion dedicated to changes in care delivery models; and
common replacement of major infrastructure equipment, including
roofing, HVAC, generators and emergency power systems, water
heaters and boilers, kitchen, and laundry room equipment.

end insert begin insert

(j) The office shall work with stakeholders to establish education
and outreach programs directed at reducing document submission
error rates and turnaround times.

end insert