BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 389
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
389 (Chau) - As Amended April 9, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill augments the information hospitals are required to
submit to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH)
annually regarding their language assistance policies; requires
hospitals to also submit policies to the Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development (OSHPD); and requires hospitals,
AB 389
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CDPH, and OSHPD to post the policies on their websites in
multiple languages.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor and absorbable one-time costs to CDPH and OSHPD for
programming and policy development, as well as ongoing minor,
absorbable costs for updating and management.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, California has been a leader
in ensuring that the state's healthcare infrastructure meets
the needs of limited-English-proficient patients. However,
the author contends there is no central oversight of hospital
compliance with existing language assistance requirements.
The author believes this bill will provide greater oversight
and enable policymakers and consumers to access information
the law already guarantees.
2)Background. The CDPH Licensing and Certification Program
enforces hospital licensing requirements, which includes
verification of compliance with language assistance services
for patients with language or communication barriers. Current
law requires hospitals to submit to CDPH, on an annual basis,
a copy of their policy and procedures for providing language
assistance services to patients with language or communication
barriers. CDPH also maintains the Health Facilities Consumer
Information System website, which provides hospital facility
profiles and information regarding complaints, inspection
results, and adverse events, but the department does not post
language assistance policies online.
Separately, OSHPD collects and posts other hospital-specific
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data, including financial, pricing, discharge, and some
quality data. OSHPD also collects and posts information
regarding hospitals' community benefit plans and charity care
policies.
3)Staff Comments. The author may wish to clarify the necessity
of submitting policies to two separate state entities,
creating what appears to be a duplicative requirement.
Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916)
319-2081