BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: SB 534
AUTHOR: Hernandez
AMENDED: April 9, 2013
HEARING DATE: April 17, 2013
CONSULTANT: Marchand
SUBJECT : Health and care facilities.
SUMMARY : Requires chronic dialysis clinics, surgical clinics,
rehabilitation clinics, and intermediate care
facilities/developmentally disabled-nursing to meet federal
certification standards under the Department of Public Health
(DPH) and adopts licensing regulations for these facilities.
Existing law:
1.Licenses and regulates various clinics by DPH, including
primary care clinics as well as specialty clinics which
include: surgical clinics, chronic dialysis clinics, and
rehabilitation clinics.
2.Requires DPH to adopt reasonable rules and regulations as may
be necessary to enable DPH to carry out the purposes of
provisions of law governing the various types of clinics
licensed by DPH.
3.Licenses and regulates various types of facilities by DPH,
including intermediate care facilities/developmentally
disabled-nursing (ICF/DD-N), which is defined as a facility
with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides 24-hour personal
care, developmental services, and nursing supervision for
persons with developmental disabilities who have intermittent
recurring needs for skilled nursing care but have been
certified by a physician as not requiring continuous skilled
nursing care.
4.Requires DPH to propose licensing fees for all of its clinics
and facilities at a level that will not require the licensing
and certification program to seek General Funds to support its
activities unless otherwise specified in statute.
This bill:
1.Requires, until DPH adopts regulations relating to the
provision of services by a chronic dialysis clinic, surgical
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clinic or a rehabilitation clinic, those clinics to comply
with the following federal certification standards in effect
immediately preceding January 1, 2013:
a. Requires a chronic dialysis clinic to comply with
applicable federal certification standards for an end stage
renal disease clinic;
b. Requires a surgical clinics to comply with applicable
federal certification standards for an ambulatory surgical
clinic; and
c. Requires a rehabilitation clinic to comply with
applicable federal certification standards for a
comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility.
2.Requires, until DPH and the Department of Developmental
Services (DDS) jointly develop regulations regarding
intermediate care facilities/developmentally disabled-nursing
(ICF/DD-N), these facilities to comply with applicable federal
certification standards for intermediate care facilities for
individuals with intellectual disabilities in effect
immediately preceding January 1, 2013.
3.Deletes a requirement that regulations developed by DPH and
DDS pertaining to ICF/DD-Ns and ICF/DD-continuous nursing
include licensing fee schedules appropriate to facilities
which will encourage their development.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1.Author's statement. This bill would require four health
facility categories currently regulated by DPH to comply with
facility-specific federal certification requirements to meet
state licensing requirements until DPH adopts state
regulations. These facilities already meet federal
requirements in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid
funding; this bill simply gives authority to state regulators
to enforce these standards until such time that DPH adopts
regulations specific to these facilities.
2.Double referral. This bill is double referred. Should it pass
out of this committee, it will be referred to the Senate
Committee on Human Services.
3.Support. This bill is sponsored by DPH, which states that
this bill would enable it to adopt existing federal regulatory
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standards as the state licensing standards for chronic
dialysis clinics, rehabilitation clinics, surgical clinics,
and ICF/DD-Ns. DPH states that it functions as the regulatory
agency for approximately 30 different types of health care
facilities and clinics. DPH states that it does not have
state licensing standards in place for chronic dialysis
clinics, rehabilitation clinics, surgical clinics, and
ICF/DD-Ns. Federal standards for these facilities exist, but
DPH lacks the statutory authority to enforce the standards.
In the absence of such authority, DPH states that it may only
recommend action by the federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services to stop Medicare/Medicaid program funding if
the health care facility is out of compliance.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: California Department of Public Health (sponsor)
Oppose: None received
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