BILL ANALYSIS �
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|Hearing Date:June 11, 2012 |Bill No:AB |
| |367 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Curren D. Price, Jr., Chair
Bill No: AB 367Author:Smyth
As Amended:May 21, 2012 Fiscal: Yes
SUBJECT: Board of Behavioral Sciences: reporting.
SUMMARY: Adds the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) to the list of
healing arts boards who are required to report to the Department of
Health Care Services (DHCS) information regarding a licensee who a
board determines is no longer eligible to practice his or her
profession.
Existing law:
1) Authorizes the BBS to license and regulate marriage and family
therapists, licensed education psychologists, clinical social
workers and licensed professional clinical counselors. (Business
and Professions Code (BPC) �� 101.6, 4990.18, 4980.20)
2) Requires certain healing arts boards to report to the DHCS
specified licensure information relating to any person whose
license has been revoked, suspended, surrendered or made inactive
by the licensee, in order to prevent state reimbursement for
services provided after the cancellation of a license. (BPC � 683)
This bill:
1) Similar to other healing arts boards, requires the BBS to report to
the DHCS, within 10 working days, the name and license number of a
person whose license has been revoked, suspended, surrendered, made
inactive by the licensee or placed in another category that
prohibits the licensee from practicing his or her profession.
2) Makes this requirement operative for the BBS commencing on January
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1, 2015.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, dated January 19, 2012, this bill will incur minor costs to
the BBS to develop a reporting protocol. Additionally, minor costs
are estimated for the DHCS to receive the report and ensure unlicensed
persons are not receiving payments from DHCS administered programs.
The cost of this additional workload is unlikely to exceed several
thousand dollars annually.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the California Association of
Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT). According to the Author, in
order to prevent providers in bad standing from being reimbursed by
DHCS administered programs, such as Medi-Cal and Child Health and
Disability Prevention, various state oversight and licensing boards
make reports to DHCS. The BBS licenses Medi-Cal providers, but is
not required to make this report to DHCS. Because of this
inadvertent lapse in oversight, the state risks spending scarce
public health dollars on licensees in bad standing who may
compromise patient care.
2.Background.
a) Enforcement Activity by the BBS. The BBS is authorized to
license and regulate those professions that fall under its
purview. The BBS may take disciplinary action against a licensee
including denial, suspension, revocation and the assessment of
penalties for misconduct. Currently, those licensees who are
deemed to have engaged in unprofessional conduct and/or are
subject to disciplinary action by the BBS, have their personal
information listed on the BBS website via an online verification
system that is available to the public. The online verification
system also includes any pending disciplinary actions against the
licensee in question. The BBS exercises its right to provide
copies of public records in accordance with the Information
Practices Act or California Public Records Act.
b) Enforcement Activity by the DHCS. The DHCS works with health
care professionals, counties and health plans to provide a health
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care safety net for low-income individuals and persons with
disabilities. DHCS finances and administers a number of
individual health care service delivery programs, including
Medi-Cal, California Children's Service Program, Child Health and
Disability Prevention Program and the Genetically Handicapped
Person Program. In addition, DHCS provides funding for hospitals
and clinics that service underserved populations.
Existing law requires eight healing arts boards to report, within
10 working days, to DHCS, the name and license number of a person
whose licensed has been revoked, suspended, surrendered, made
inactive by the licensee or placed in another category that
prohibits the licensee from practicing his or her profession.
These boards include:
� Dental Board
� Medical Board
� Board of Psychology
� Board of Optometry
� Board of Pharmacy
� Osteopathic Medical Board
� Board of Chiropractic Examiners
� Board of Occupational Therapy
1.Arguments in Support. According to the Sponsor , the bill provides
additional consumer protections by adding the BBS to the list of
current licensing boards that must report to the DHCS the name and
license number of any licensee whose licensed has been revoked,
suspended, surrendered or made inactive by the licensee. The bill
would prohibit such licensees from being reimbursed for Medi-Cal
services.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Sponsor)
Board of Behavioral Sciences
Opposition:
None received as of June 6, 2012.
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Consultant:Le Ondra Clark