BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1540
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Dave Jones, Chair
AB 1540 (Committee on Health) - As Amended: April 16, 2009
SUBJECT : Health.
SUMMARY : Makes technical and non-controversial changes to a
variety of health programs and statutes. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Exempts data collected by the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development (OSHPD) relating to emergency rooms,
ambulatory surgeries and coronary artery bypass graft
surgeries from disclosure under the Public Records Act (PRA),
similar to the existing PRA exemption for inpatient discharge
data.
2)Authorizes the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) to
amend, by regulation, any statutorily mandated notice,
specifically for purposes of clarity, readability, and
accuracy.
3)Clarifies that specialized health care plans and specialized
insurance policies, (i.e. dental and vision plans), are not
subject to the requirement of coverage for human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing enacted pursuant to AB
1894 (Krekorian), Chapter 63, Statutes of 2008.
4)Conforms existing state law to the federal Safe Drinking Water
Act (SDWA).
5)Repeals the sunset date in existing law allowing public health
tuberculosis workers employed by, or contracted with, a local
public health department to administer tuberculosis skin
tests.
6)Extends the sunset date of the California Health Benefits
Review Program (CHBRP) from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2015.
Makes no changes to CHBRP responsibility or authority.
7)Conforms provisions relating to Medi-Cal
physicians-in-good-standing filing a change of location form
to an existing requirement for all Medi-Cal providers to
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obtain a single National Provider Identifier.
8)Repeals the sunset date for the Local Education Agency (LEA)
Medi-Cal billing option.
9)Makes other minor technical and non-substantive changes.
EXISTING LAW
1)Exempts inpatient discharge data collected by OSHPD from the
PRA.
2)Allows DMHC to amend, by regulation, a statutorily mandated
notice that must be provided to patients who receive emergency
care at a non-contracting hospital for clarity, readability,
and accuracy.
3)Requires health plans and health insurers to provide coverage
for HIV testing regardless of whether the testing is related
to a primary diagnosis.
4)Establishes the Drinking Water Program within the Department
of Public Health (DPH) to regulate public drinking water
systems.
5)Extends the sunset date authorizing local health departments
to certify public health tuberculosis workers to place and
measure tuberculosis skin tests from January 1, 2006 to
January 1, 2011.
6)Establishes CHBRP to respond to requests from the Legislature
to provide independent analysis of the medical, financial, and
public health impacts of proposed health insurance benefit
mandates and repeals. Extends the CHBRP program until January
1, 2011.
7)Establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the
Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which provides
health benefits to low-income children, their parents, or
caretaker relatives, pregnant women, elderly, blind or
disabled persons, and other individuals who meet specified
eligibility criteria.
8)Establishes the LEA program to provide the federal share of
reimbursement for health assessment and treatment for Medi-Cal
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eligible children and family members within the school
environment.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . This bill is authored by the Assembly
Committee on Health as omnibus clean-up legislation containing
technical or non-controversial changes to the laws affecting
various health and human services agencies including OSHPD,
DMHC, DHCS, and DPH. Many of the provisions make minor,
technical, and conforming changes, while other provisions are
substantive changes intended to improve the ability of the
various agencies to efficiently and effectively administer
their respective programs.
2)SUPPORT . The California Hospital Association and the
California Society for Clinical Social Work support the
provisions of this bill that address the protection of patient
specific data collected by OSHPD from the PRA, stating that
patient specific identifying information should be excluded
from the PRA and only provided when required in clinical and
care settings. DPH writes that it is sponsoring the
provisions of this bill related to drinking water to ensure
that California maintains its federally designated authority
to implement a drinking water program that conforms to the
federal SDWA and maintains laws and regulations that must be
no less stringent than the federal regulations.
3)DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred because
of the drinking water provisions. Should this bill pass out
of this committee, it will be referred to the Assembly
Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Hospital Association
California Society for Clinical Social Work
Department of Public Health
AB 1540
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Cassie Rafanan / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097