BILL NUMBER: AB 389 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 8, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 2, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chau
FEBRUARY 18, 2015
An act to amend Section 1259 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 389, Chau. Hospitals: language assistance services.
(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation by the
State Department of Public Health of health facilities, including
general acute care hospitals. A violation of these provisions is a
crime. 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 annually
to the public on their respective Internet Web sites. The bill would
also require a general acute care hospital to post on its Internet
Web site a notice, in English and in the other most commonly spoken
languages in the hospital's service area, of the availability of
language assistance services. Because a violation of these provisions
by a health facility would be a crime, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
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.
(2) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that 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 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 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) (i) 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 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.
(ii) The hospital shall, on or before July 1, 2016, and every
January 1 thereafter, make the updated policy and a notice of
availability of language assistance services available to the public
on its Internet Web site. The notice shall be in English and in the
other languages most commonly spoken in the hospital's service area.
For purposes of this paragraph, the hospital shall make the notice
available in the language of individuals who meet the definition of
having a language barrier pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph
(2) of subdivision (b); however, a hospital is not required to make
the notice available in more than five languages other than English.
(B) (i) The hospital shall, on or before July 1, 2016, and every
January 1 thereafter, transmit to the 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.
(ii) The department shall make the updated policy available to the
public on its Internet Web site.
(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. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.