BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 648 (Mendoza) - Health and care facilities: referral
agencies
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|Version: May 5, 2015 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 7 - 2, JUD. |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 18, 2015 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 648 would require referral agencies that refer
consumers to residential care facilities for the elderly to be
licensed by the Department of Public Health. The bill would
impose new disclosure and liability insurance requirements on
all licensed referral agencies.
Fiscal
Impact:
Minor, one-time costs to update existing regulations by the
Department of Public Health (Licensing and Certification
Fund).
SB 648 (Mendoza) Page 1 of
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One-time costs of about $2.5 million over two years for
initial licensure of additional referral agencies by the
Department of Public Health (Licensing and Certification
Fund). The total number of referral agencies that are
referring consumers to residential care facilities for the
elderly is not known, as there are not current licensing
requirements for this segment of the referral agency market.
The Department estimates that there are about 2,000 such
agencies statewide. Under this assumption, it will require
about $2.5 million in staff costs over two years to complete
the initial licensing process. After that, ongoing licensing
and enforcement costs are anticipated to be minor.
Background: Under current law, the Department of Public Health licenses
and regulates a variety of health facilities, such as hospitals,
skilled nursing facilities, and intermediate care facilities.
The Department also licenses and regulates referral agencies
that refer consumers to those licensed facilities.
Under current law, the Department of Social Services licenses
and regulates residential care facilities for the elderly. There
is no licensing requirement for referral agencies who refer
consumers to those facilities (unless they also refer consumers
to the facilities listed above, regulated by the Department of
Public Health).
Proposed Law:
SB 648 would require referral agencies that refer consumers to
residential care facilities for the elderly to be licensed by
the Department of Public Health. The bill would impose new
disclosure and liability insurance requirements on all licensed
referral agencies.
Specific provisions of the bill would:
Add referral agencies that refer to residential care
facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) to this list of referral
agencies that must be licensed by the Department of Public
Health;
Prohibit a referral agency from referring a consumer to a
SB 648 (Mendoza) Page 2 of
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residential care facility for the elderly if that facility
does not meet existing licensing standards;
Require all licensed referral agencies to provide specified
disclosures to consumers;
Limit the personal information of a consumer that a referral
agency can share with other parties;
Require all licensed referral agencies to have specified
amounts of liability insurance.
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