BILL ANALYSIS
AB 535
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 535 (Ammiano) - As Amended: January 14, 2010
Policy Committee: Health Vote:16-0
Aging & LTC 5-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires 1,100 skilled nursing facilities (SNF)
statewide to increase reporting specificity of patient death
data to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development
(OSHPD) and increases the availability of death data to county
Elder Death Review Teams (EDRT) statewide. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires SNF to add specified discharge demographic data to
current law annual reporting to include at least:
a) Date of death
b) Time of death
c) Age at death
d) Gender of patient
2)Requires OSHPD to compile and make the expanded SNF
facility-specific data set established in provision 1), above,
upon request to an EDRT. Requires the data to be available by
county and by facility. Authorizes OSHPD to include additional
census and utilization information including whether a SNF is
an Alzheimer's or hospice facility.
3)Authorizes the disclosure of electronic death data by local
registrars to EDRT.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time fee supported special fund costs to OSHPD in the
range of $300,000 to establish more detailed,
facility-specific and county-specific reporting to be
AB 535
Page 2
available upon request by EDRT. Unknown on-going fee-supported
special fund costs in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 for
OSHPD to maintain and release death data pursuant to
requirements of this bill.
2)The OSHPD workload includes modifying the Automated Licensing
Information and Report Tracking System (ALIRTS) and the Annual
Utilization Report of Long Term Care Facilities to make death
data available on a county-by-county basis as well as for
1,100 SNF. Under current law, only aggregate death statistics
are reported by SNF as a part of discharge status. Therefore
if, under current law, a SNF had 40 deaths in a year, rather
than the report displaying "40", this bill will require the
time, date, and age at death, as well as patient gender for
each of the 40 deaths.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill is increases the availability and
specificity of data about deaths in nursing homes. Under
current law, SNF deaths are reported in aggregate to OSHPD as
a discharge status. Certain deaths are reported to law
enforcement or for other investigation. However, the kind of
information required in this bill is not currently available
to EDRT. The author and supporters of this bill hope that
increased data about SNF deaths will help identify patterns of
abuse, neglect, or poor health care quality.
2)Background . California has 33 county-based EDRTs to assist
local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious elder
deaths and facilitating communication between agencies
investigating and prosecuting elder abuse and neglect cases.
Under current law, when a patient dies in a SNF, a physician
or physician's assistant completes a death certificate. An
unusual occurrence of a death in a SNF, including unusual
deaths, must be reported to the California Department of
Public Health (DPH) for possible investigation. Each facility
reports its annual utilization data to OSHPD. The data
includes general licensee information, patient census,
demographics, and discharge data, including discharges due to
death.
AB 535
Page 3
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081