BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                    Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
          
                                           1644 (Romero)
          
          Hearing Date:  5/20/04          Amended: 4/27/04 &  
          LCR#09893     
          Consultant:  George Cate            Policy Vote: H&HS 7-2  
          PUB S 4-0                
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          BILL SUMMARY: 
          
          SB 1644 requires long-term health care facilities to report  
          the death of a resident to the resident's attending  
          physician and in turn requires the physician to report some  
          additional information on the death certificate, including  
          the patient's name, name and address of the facility, and  
          the date and time of death in the medical and health data  
          section.  In addition, this bill requires the physician to  
          deposit a copy of the certificate at the office of the  
          local coroner or medical examiner.

          Furthermore, this measure requires the coroner or medical  
          examiner to acknowledge receipt of the certificate and  
          requires mandated reporters of elder and dependent abuse to  
          report specified information to the coroner or medical  
          examiner, as well.  The bill also mandates the coroner or  
          medical examiner to compile aggregate information  
          concerning the number of deaths and names of facilities in  
          which deaths occurred, and make this information available  
          to the public upon request. 

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                          Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions                   2004-05             2005-06   
                      2006-07           Fund

           Reporting information        Minor, potentially  
          reimbursable                    General*

               * State-mandated local program

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          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE  
          
          County coroners and medical examiners have estimated that  
          the costs of this measure for compiling information,  
          aggregating it, and reporting would be unknown, but  
          probably significant.  These costs would have to be borne  
          by the General Fund because they represent an unfunded  
          state-mandated local program.

          AUTHOR'S PROPOSED AMENDMENTS would instead require a local  
          registrar of deaths to assist with the transfer of  
          information from the death certificate to a county elder  
          death review team, upon the request of a member of the  
          team.  These amendments also allow team members to share  
          this information.