BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                 AB 57
                                                                 Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 6, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                  AB 57 (Price) - As Introduced:  December 5, 2008 

          Policy Committee:                              HealthVote:13-6
                        Higher Education                      6-3

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the California Department of Public Health  
          (DPH) to establish a process for the review of written staffing  
          plans and patient classification systems to be submitted by the  
          five University of California (UC) medical centers. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  


          1)Fee-supported special fund cost of approximately $10,000 to  
            DPH to review staffing plans submitted by the five University  
            of California Medical Centers. 


          2)Unknown, likely absorbable staffing costs to the UC to provide  
            DPH with staffing reports and evidence of patient  
            classification methodologies. 

           
          COMMENTS  


           1)Purpose  . This bill is sponsored by the American Federation of  
            State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). AFSCME has  
            180,000 members in California, many of whom are health care  
            workers at UC medical center campuses. The author and sponsor  
            indicate safe staffing levels for hospital personnel are  
            critical for quality patient care.  Understaffing of  
            professional and technical hospital employees may endanger  
            patient care by forcing staff to care for multiple patients in  
            different units of the hospital, delaying timely diagnostic  
            testing, causing inaccurate diagnoses, and increasing employee  
            injuries. This bill increases transparency of UC approaches to  
            staffing and patient classification systems that impact  





                                                                 AB 57
                                                                 Page  2

            staffing patterns.   


          2)UC Medical Centers and Concerns  . The five medical centers  
            operated by UC (Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San  
            Francisco) support the clinical teaching programs of UC  
            medical schools and provide more than 138,000 in-patient,  
            261,000 emergency room, and more than 3.6 million outpatient  
            visits each year.   


          3)Related Legislation  . AB 2244 (Price) in 2008 was similar to  
            this bill and was vetoed due to concerns about the bill being  
            only focused on UC hospitals. AB 57 remains focused on the UC  
            hospitals. AB 13 (Brownley) in 2007 was similar to this bill,  
            but broader in focus and included all California hospitals,  
            not just UC. AB 13 was placed on the inactive file of the  
            Senate. AB 2754 (Chan), in 2006, was similar to AB 13 and  
            failed passage on the Senate floor. 


            Analysis Prepared by  :    Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081