BILL ANALYSIS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|Hearing Date:July 6, 2009 |Bill No:AB |
| |1310 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod, Chair
Bill No: AB 1310Author:Hernandez
As Amended: June 29, 2009Fiscal:Yes
SUBJECT: Healing arts: database.
SUMMARY: Requires specified healing arts boards to collect specified
information from persons licensed, certified, registered or otherwise
subject to the regulation of the healing arts boards and to transfer
the data collected to the Health Care Workforce Clearinghouse within
the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. States that
the data collected will be used to measure and evaluate the state's
healthcare workforce development needs.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Healthcare Workforce Development Division within the
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to
identify and address California's healthcare workforce needs.
2)Requires OSHPD to establish the California Healthcare Workforce
Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) to serve as the central source of
healthcare workforce and educational data in the state.
3)Provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts by
respective healing arts boards within the Department of Consumer
Affairs (DCA).
4)Establishes the Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically
Competent Physicians and Dentists and assigns the task force various
duties, including, among other things, identifying the key cultural
elements necessary to meet cultural competency.
5)Authorizes physicians and surgeons, dentists and dental auxiliaries
to report information regarding their cultural background and
AB 1310
Page 2
foreign language proficiency to their respective licensing boards
and requires those boards to collect that information, as specified.
6)Requires the Director of the Employment Development Department (EDD)
to permit the use of information in his or her possession for
specified purposes.
This bill:
1)Requires specified healing arts boards to collect the following
information from persons licensed, certified, registered, or
otherwise subject to regulation by that board:
1) Educational background and training, including, but not
limited to degree, related school name and location, and year of
graduation, and as applicable, the highest professional degree
obtained, related professional school name and location, and year
of graduation.
1) Birth date and place of birth.
1) Sex.
1) Race and ethnicity.
1) Location of high school.
1) Number of hours per week spent in primary practice location,
if applicable.
1) Description of primary practice setting, if applicable.
1) Primary practice information, including, but not limited to,
primary specialty practice, practice location ZIP Code, and
county.
1) Information regarding any additional practice, including, but
not limited to, a description of practice setting, practice
location ZIP Code, and county.
2)Requires the following boards to collect the information specified
in item #1) above:
2) The Acupuncture Board.
2) The Dental Hygiene Committee of California
AB 1310
Page 3
2) The Dental Board of California.
2) The Medical Board of California.
2) The Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine.
2) The California Board of Occupational Therapy.
2) The State Board of Optometry
2) The Osteopathic Medical Board of California
2) The California State Board of Pharmacy.
2) The Physical Therapy Board of California.
2) The Physician Assistant Committee, Medical Board of
California.
2) The California Board of Podiatric Medicine.
2) The Board of Psychology.
2) The Board of Registered Nursing.
2) The Respiratory Care Board of California
2) The Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board.
2) The Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of
the State of California.
2) The Board of Behavioral Sciences.
3)States that the information collected pursuant to item #1) above are
to be used to measure and evaluate the state's healthcare workforce
development needs. Requires the DCA and the specified healing arts
boards to work with the OSHPD to transfer the data collected under
this bill to the Healthcare Workforce Clearinghouse.
4)Provides that personally identifiable information collected pursuant
to item #1) above is confidential and not subject to public
inspection.
5)Requires a board that collects information to state in a conspicuous
AB 1310
Page 4
manner that reporting the information is not a condition of license
renewal, and that no adverse action will be taken against any
licensee that does not report any information.
6)States that a board that collects information must do so in a manner
that minimizes any fiscal impact, which may include, but is not
limited to, sending the request for information in a renewal notice,
a regular newsletter, via electronic mail, or posting the request on
the board's Internet Web site, and by allowing licensees to provide
the information electronically.
7)Requires OSHPD in consultation with the Healthcare Workforce
Development Division and the DCA to select a database and add the
data collected to the database.
8)Requires the Clearinghouse to prepare a written report containing
the findings of this data and submit the report annually to the
Legislature no later than March 1, commencing on March 1, 2012.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
annual fee-supported staffing costs in the range of $300,000 to
$500,000 to the MBC and BRN combined. These costs create pressure on
annual licensing fees charged to health professionals. Recent
amendments reduce the number of healing arts boards required to
collect specified demographic information from more than a dozen to
only two of the largest boards, the MBC and the BRN.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. The Author is the sponsor of this measure. According to
the Author, the Clearinghouse, was established to collect data on
various health professions in California and identify health
workforce problems throughout the state. However, healing arts
boards are not required to collect the data which makes OSHPD's task
more cumbersome and in some cases non-existent.
2.Background. SB 139 (Scott, Chapter 522, Statutes of 2007), created
the Clearinghouse within the OSHPD to serve as the state's central
source of healthcare workforce and educational data, create a
database to monitor the state's healthcare workforce, and assess the
state's healthcare workforce supply and demand to shape policy.
According to OSHPD's Internet Website, OSHPD will work with the
EDD's Labor Market Information Division, state licensing boards, and
state higher education entities to collect healthcare workforce and
AB 1310
Page 5
educational data by specialty, to the extent available, as follows:
current supply and demand, geographical distribution, diversity,
including, but not necessarily limited to, data on race, ethnicity,
and languages spoken, forecasted demand, educational capacity, and
benefits. OSHPD points out that the establishment of the
Clearinghouse will enhance California's ability to understand and
manage its complex healthcare delivery infrastructure and growing
and aging population. Specifically, the Clearinghouse will provide:
access to comprehensive and centralized data; trend analysis and
reporting information; identified gaps, strategies and potential
solutions for the employment and educational arenas; improved and
standardized data collection tools and methods; awareness of health
professions to improve workforce recruitment and retention efforts;
distribution of health data, best practices, educational pipeline
intervention activities and other resources; and policy
recommendations to address causes of health workforce shortages and
distribution. SB 139 did not mandate the collection of data by
health care licensing boards.
3.Related Similar Legislation This Session. There are several bills
currently pending in the Legislature that require certain boards of
the DCA to collect specified information.
SB 43 (Alquist) authorizes the healing arts boards within the DCA to
collect information regarding the cultural and linguistic competency
of persons subject to regulation by those boards, and requires the
information to be used to meet the cultural and linguistic concerns
of the state's diverse patient population. Also requires the EDD to
share that information with OSHPD to increase the amount of data
available for workforce policy and development efforts. SB 43 is
pending in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee.
SB 549 (Correa) authorizes the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology to
collect gender, language and ethnicity data from new licensure
applicants and renewal licensees and requires that the information
be available to the public upon request. SB 549 is pending in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 620 (Wiggins) requires a licensed osteopathic physician and surgeon
(D.O.) to report to the Osteopathic Medical Board of California
(OMBC) at the time of license renewal, any specialty board
certification and their practice status, as defined. Allows a D.O.
to report, and the OMBC to collect, information regarding his or her
cultural background, and foreign language proficiency. Information
collected may be placed on the OMBC's Internet website. SB 620 is
pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1310
Page 6
4.Prior Related Legislation. AB 269 (Eng, Chapter 262, Statues of
2007) created new reporting requirements for dentists and dental
auxiliaries upon their application for initial licensure and renewal
and requires the Dental Board of California (DBC) to collect,
aggregate and post the information collected pursuant to the bill on
its website.
AB 2283 (Oropeza, Chapter 612, Statutes of 2006) requires the
Medical Board of California (MBC) to annually aggregate existing
data reported by physicians on their cultural background and foreign
language proficiency, by the zip code of the primary practice
location and on a statewide basis, and report the information on
MBC's website.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support: None on File as of July 1, 2009
Opposition: None on file as of July 1, 2009
Consultant:Rosielyn Pulmano