BILL NUMBER: SB 1119	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2010

   An act relating to health care.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1119, as introduced, Wright. Health care staffing.
   Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various
health care professionals, including physicians and surgeons and
nurses, by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing
law defines and regulates locum tenens agencies that place health
care licensees with clients. Existing law also requires a business
that provides telephone medical advice services to be registered with
the Telephone Medical Advise Service Bureau within the department.
   This bill would specify findings and declarations of the
Legislature regarding the need for regulation of businesses that
provide medical staff to hospitals and other medical entities,
including travel health companies and nursing registries. The bill
would also declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
to regulate these businesses.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) California currently regulates businesses that provide
telephone medical advice services to a patient. However, California
does not regulate businesses that provide medical staff to hospitals
and other medical facilities.
   (b) The temporary nurse staffing industry is estimated to range
from 3,000 to 6,000 agencies nationwide. Nearly 6 percent of
registered nurses in the United Sates are licensed in California.
Approximately 19,000 California licensed nurses work as temporary
nurses.
   (c) In December 2009, the Los Angeles Times published an expose
revealing a wide range of agencies with varying, and in many cases
almost no, standards for determining the licensing, competency, and
background of nurses sent to health care facilities.
   (d) It is in the public interest for patients and health care
institutions that temporary nurses meet minimum standards of
licensure and competency.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
providing for the licensure and regulation of businesses that provide
medical staff to hospitals and other medical entities, including
travel health companies and nursing registries, in order to ensure
that an applicant for a temporary position has the basic skills,
competency, licensure, and credentials necessary to provide
high-quality medical care to patients.