BILL NUMBER: AB 1785	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 5, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Galgiani

                        FEBRUARY 10, 2010

    An act relating to prisons.   An act to add
Section 5023.3 to the Penal Code, relating to prisoners. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1785, as amended, Galgiani. Prisons: telemedicine systems. 

   Existing law, the Telemedicine Development Act of 1996, regulates
the practice of telemedicine, defined as the practice of health care
delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of medical
data, and education using interactive audio, video, or data
communications, by a health care practitioner, as defined. Existing
law establishes that it is the intent of the Legislature that the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operate in the most
cost-effective and efficient manner possible when purchasing health
care services for inmates.  
   This bill would state the Legislature's findings and declarations
on the use of telemedicine in the state's prisons. The bill would
require the department to require and maintain a statewide
telemedicine services program, require an operational telemedicine
services program at each institution, expand services delivered by
telemedicine, require prisons to use the prison telemedicine program,
as specified, expand the use of existing telemedicine resources, and
establish and maintain an infrastructure to enable timely tracking
and reporting of telemedicine services.  
   Existing law states that it is the intent of the Legislature that
the Department of Corrections operate in the most cost-effective and
efficient manner possible when purchasing health care services for
inmates.  
   This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to
later amend into this bill provisions that would require the prison
system to utilize a cost-effective telemedicine system within
correctional institutions. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:  
   (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to require the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement and maintain the use
of telemedicine in state prisons.  
   (b) Telemedicine provides an opportunity to bid out contracts to a
larger pool of physicians licensed to practice across the state,
rather than only to those contract physicians practicing in the
region of a specific prison.  
   (c) Telemedicine improves inmates' access to health care by
enabling correctional systems to expand their provider network to
include physicians located outside the immediate vicinity of prisons,
particularly for inmates housed in remote areas of the state with
shortages of health care.  
   (d) The department's prison telemedicine program began in 1997 as
a pilot project for mental health inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison
and was successful at improving inmates' access to mental health
care. Accordingly, the department decided to expand the program to
provide mental health as well as medical specialty services at other
prisons. Currently, all of the state prisons are equipped to provide
basic telemedicine services. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 5023.3 is added to the  
Penal Code   , to read:  
   5023.3.  In order to maximize the benefits that come with the use
of telemedicine in the state's prisons, the department shall do all
of the following:
   (a) Require and maintain a statewide telemedicine services
program.
   (b) Require an operational telemedicine services program at each
institution.
   (c) Expand services and encounters delivered by the telemedicine
services program.
   (d) Require prisons to use the prison telemedicine program for
medical consultations when authorized by utilization management to be
conducted via telemedicine.
   (e) Expand the use of existing external telemedicine resources.
   (f) Establish and maintain an information technology support
infrastructure to enable timely tracking and reporting of
telemedicine services.  
  SECTION 1.    It is the intent of the Legislature
to later amend into this bill provisions that would require the
prison system to utilize a cost-effective telemedicine system within
correctional institutions.