BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1544 (Jones)
Hearing Date: 8/17/2009 Amended: 8/17/2009
Consultant: Katie Johnson Policy Vote: Health 10-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1544 would permit a hospital in good standing
to apply to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to
offer an outpatient service as a supplemental service without a
prior onsite survey by CDPH. The bill would also require CDPH to
approve the application and to issue or deny a new license
within 100 days of receiving a complete application.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
CDPH regulations $70 $120 $0 Special*
*State Department of Public Health Licensing and Certification
Program Fund
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STAFF COMMENTS:
Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of health
facilities, including hospitals and primary care clinics, by the
CDPH. Existing law provides for a fee to be paid by a hospital
when applying for initial and renewing licensure, as specified.
Existing regulations define a hospital outpatient service as the
rendering of non-emergency health care services to patients who
remain in the hospital less than 24 hours.
Existing law permits a primary care clinic that has held a
valid, unrevoked, and unsuspended license for at least the
preceding five years to apply to establish another primary care
clinic at an additional site, which is referred to as an
affiliate clinic. Existing law provides that the CDPH approve an
affiliate clinic without the necessity of first conducting an
initial onsite survey if specified conditions are met.
This bill would permit a hospital to apply to CDPH to offer a
new or modify an existing outpatient service without a prior
onsite survey by CDPH, provided it has met the following
requirements:
1) Has held for the five years immediately preceding the
submission of the completed application, a valid, unrevoked
or unsuspended license;
2) Does not have a history of repeated or uncorrected
violations that pose immediate jeopardy to a patient;
3) Does not have pending actions against it to suspend or
revoke the license or terminate Medicare or Medi-Cal
certification;
4) Owns and operates the outpatient service that is the
subject of the application.
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AB 1544 (Jones)
This bill would require an applicant hospital to complete all
appropriate forms and documentation, pay any necessary fees, and
to describe the type of outpatient service and its location and
evidence showing that the outpatient service has written
policies and procedures governing its operation. This bill would
also require CDPH to approve the application and to issue or
deny a new license within 100 days of receiving a complete
application.
This bill would limit the outpatient service to providing
primary health care service to patients who remain in the
outpatient clinic for less than 24 hours and would prohibit the
service from providing chronic dialysis treatment, alternative
birthing services, and outpatient surgeries that are provided by
a surgical clinic.
This bill would provide that CDPH may conduct a licensing
inspection or complaint investigation after the application is
approved.
CDPH would need $70,000 in FY 2009-2010 and $120,000 in FY
2010-2011 to promulgate regulations related to this bill.
Ongoing costs would be absorbable since hospitals may add
supplemental services at any time under existing law.