BILL NUMBER: AB 389 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chau
FEBRUARY 18, 2015
An act to amend Section 1259 of, and to add Section 128731 to, the
Health and Safety Code, relating to health facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 389, as introduced, Chau. Hospitals: language assistance
services.
(1) Under existing law, the State Department of Health Care
Services licenses and regulates general acute care hospitals, as
defined. Existing law requires those hospitals to adopt and review
annually a policy for providing language assistance services to
patients with language or communication barriers, as defined.
Existing law requires a hospital to annually transmit to the
department a copy of its updated policy and to include a description
of its efforts to ensure adequate and speedy communication between
patients with language or communication barriers and staff.
This bill would require a general acute care hospital and the
department to make the hospital's updated policy available to the
public on their respective Internet Web sites. The bill would also,
if another technology emerges that replaces Internet Web sites,
require the department, by regulation, to require a general acute
care hospital to make its updated policy available through that
subsequent technology. The bill would also require the department to
make that policy available through that new technology.
(2) Existing law creates the Office of Statewide Health Planning
and Development, prescribes the office's powers and duties, and
designates the office as the single state agency to collect specified
data from health facilities and clinics for use by all state
agencies.
This bill would require a general acute care hospital to annually
file with the office the policy described in (1) above for providing
language assistance services to patients with language or
communication barriers. The bill would require the office to make
that policy available to the public on the office's Internet Web site
or through a subsequent technology that replaces Internet Web sites.
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. Section 1259 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
1259. (a) (1) The Legislature finds and
declares that California is becoming a land of people whose languages
and cultures give the state a global quality. The Legislature
further finds and declares that access to basic health care services
is the right of every resident of the state, and that access to
information regarding basic health care services is an essential
element of that right.
Therefore,
(2) Therefore, it is the intent
of the Legislature that where when
language or communication barriers exist between patients and the
staff of any general acute care hospital, arrangements shall be made
for interpreters or bilingual professional staff to ensure adequate
and speedy communication between patients and staff.
(b) As used in this section:
(1) "Interpreter" means a person fluent in English and in the
necessary second language, who can accurately speak, read, and
readily interpret the necessary second language, or a person who can
accurately sign and read sign language. Interpreters shall have the
ability to translate the names of body parts and to describe
competently symptoms and injuries in both languages. Interpreters may
include members of the medical or professional staff.
(2) "Language or communication barriers" means:
(A) With respect to spoken language, barriers which
that are experienced by individuals who are
limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking individuals who
speak the same primary language and who comprise at least 5 percent
of the population of the geographical area served by the hospital or
of the actual patient population of the hospital. In cases of
dispute, the state department shall determine, based on objective
data, whether the 5 percent population standard applies to a given
hospital.
(B) With respect to sign language, barriers which
that are experienced by individuals who are deaf
and whose primary language is sign language.
(c) To ensure access to health care information and services for
limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking residents and deaf
residents, licensed general acute care hospitals shall:
(1) Review existing policies regarding interpreters for patients
with limited-English proficiency and for patients who are deaf,
including the availability of staff to act as interpreters.
(2) (A) Adopt and review annually a policy
for providing language assistance services to patients with language
or communication barriers. The policy shall include procedures for
providing, to the extent possible, as determined by the hospital, the
use of an interpreter whenever a language or communication barrier
exists, except where when the patient,
after being informed of the availability of the interpreter service,
chooses to use a family member or friend who volunteers to interpret.
The procedures shall be designed to maximize efficient use of
interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters to
patients. The procedures shall ensure, to the extent possible, as
determined by the hospital, that interpreters are available, either
on the premises or accessible by telephone, 24 hours a day. The
hospital shall annually make the updated
policy available to the public on its Internet Web site. If another
technology emerges that takes the place of Internet Web sites, the
state department shall direct the hospital, by regulations adopted
pursuant to the rulemaking procedures of the Administrative Procedure
Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), to make the
information required pursuant to this section available through the
subsequent technology.
(B) The hospital shall annually
transmit to the state department a copy of the
updated policy and shall include a description of its efforts to
ensure adequate and speedy communication between patients with
language or communication barriers and staff. The department
shall make the updated policy available to the public on its Internet
Web site. If another technology emerges that replaces Internet Web
sites, the department shall make the information required pursuant to
this section available through that subsequent technology.
(3) Develop, and post in conspicuous locations, notices that
advise patients and their families of the availability of
interpreters, the procedure for obtaining an interpreter and the
telephone numbers where complaints may be filed concerning
interpreter service problems, including, but not limited to, a T.D.D.
number for the hearing impaired. The notices shall be posted, at a
minimum, in the emergency room, the admitting area, the entrance, and
in outpatient areas. Notices shall inform patients that interpreter
services are available upon request, shall list the languages for
which interpreter services are available, shall instruct patients to
direct complaints regarding interpreter services to the state
department, and shall provide the local address and telephone number
of the state department, including, but not limited to, a T.D.D.
number for the hearing impaired.
(4) Identify and record a patient's primary language and dialect
on one or more of the following: patient medical chart, hospital
bracelet, bedside notice, or nursing card.
(5) Prepare and maintain as needed a list of interpreters who
have been identified as proficient in sign language and in the
languages of the population of the geographical area serviced who
have the ability to translate the names of body parts, injuries, and
symptoms.
(6) Notify employees of the hospital's commitment to provide
interpreters to all patients who request them.
(7) Review all standardized written forms, waivers, documents,
and informational materials available to patients upon admission to
determine which to translate into languages other than English.
(8) Consider providing its nonbilingual staff with standardized
picture and phrase sheets for use in routine communications with
patients who have language or communication barriers.
(9) Consider developing community liaison groups to enable the
hospital and the limited-English-speaking and deaf communities to
ensure the adequacy of the interpreter services.
(d) Noncompliance with this section shall be reportable to
licensing authorities.
(e) Section 1290 shall not apply to this section.
SEC. 2. Section 128731 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
128731. (a) A licensed general acute care hospital shall annually
file with the office a policy for providing language assistance
services to patients with language or communication barriers required
pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 1259.
(b) The office shall make the hospital policy available to the
public on the office's Internet Web site. If another technology
emerges that replaces Internet Web sites, the office shall make the
hospital policy available through that subsequent technology.