BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1130
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Rob Bonta, Chair
AB 1130
(Gray) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Clinics: licensing: hours of operation
SUMMARY: Extends the limit on the hours of operation for an
intermittent primary care community or free clinic, from 20
hours a week to 30.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires clinics to be licensed by the Department of Public
Health (DPH). Provides for exemptions from these licensing
requirements for certain types of clinics, including federally
operated clinics, local government primary care clinics,
clinics affiliated with an institution of higher learning,
clinics conducted as outpatient departments of hospitals, and
community or free clinics that are operated on separate
premises from the licensed clinic and are only open for
limited services of no more than 20 hours a week (also known
as intermittent clinics).
2)Requires an intermittent clinic to meet all other requirements
of law, including administrative regulations and requirements
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pertaining to fire and life safety.
3)Authorizes DPH to take various types of enforcement actions
against a primary care clinic that has violated state law or
regulation, including imposing fines, sanctions, civil or
criminal penalties, and suspension or revocation of the
clinic's license.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS:
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL. According to the author, the existing
limit on hours of operation for intermittent clinics of a
maximum of 20 hours was placed in statute 37 years ago, and
based on a typical 40 hour work week. The author states that
today, full time healthcare centers are open much longer
hours, in some cases seven days a week, and continue to adapt
in order to meet the needs of every community. The author
notes that given the increase in patient population thanks to
the Medi-Cal expansion and the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, this bill seeks to increase the hours an
intermittent clinic may operate so that they may keep up with
the demand for service in all areas of California, but
particularly in the most underserved regions.
2)BACKGROUND. Community clinics and health centers are
nonprofit, tax-exempt clinics that are licensed as community
or free clinics, and provide services to patients on a sliding
fee scale basis or, in the case of free clinics, at no charge
to the patients. These include federally designated community
health centers, migrant health centers, rural health centers,
and frontier health centers.
California is home to nearly 1,000 community clinics serving
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more than 5.6 million patients (or one in seven Californians)
annually through over 17 million patient encounters. More
than 50% of these patients are Hispanic and 43% speak a
primary language other than English.
3)SUPPORT. The Central Valley Health Network and the California
Primary Care Association are the cosponsors of this bill and,
along with numerous other supporters including the Council of
Community Clinics, Family Healthcare Network, and People
Assisting the Homeless, note that many intermittent clinics
are operated on school campuses and address the unique needs
of school age children and their families. The supporters
point out that others are operated in short- and long-term
shelters designed to help people experiencing homelessness and
others are embedded in affordable housing communities. The
supporters conclude that in these situations, the intermittent
clinics meet the unique healthcare needs of patients who may
not have the ability to access a full time health center.
The California School-Based Health Alliance also supports this
bill and states since its introduction some of their
school-based health centers have shared that increasing the
hours could help many of them transition into stand-alone
community health centers that provide services over 30 hours a
week, thereby increasing access to care across California.
4)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION. SB 1094 (Schiff), Chapter 673, Statutes
of 1998, exempts certain nonprofit clinics from licensure
requirements on the basis that they are operated primarily for
purposes of conducting medical research and are not operated
in conjunction with other health care clinics or facilities.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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California Primary Care Association (cosponsor)
Central Valley Health Network (cosponsor)
California School-Based Health Alliance
Council of Community Clinics
Family Healthcare Network
Family Purpose
James Morehouse Project
Livingston Community Health
People Assisting the Homeless
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
The Children's Partnership
Venice Family Clinic
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097