BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 2214
AUTHOR: Monning
AMENDED: June 20, 2012
HEARING DATE: June 27, 2012
CONSULTANT: Moreno
SUBJECT : Health workforce development.
SUMMARY : Requires certified radiologic technologist and limited
radiologic technology permit holders, nuclear medicine
technologists, and all clinical laboratory licensees, including
medical laboratory technicians, to report to the Department of
Public Health (DPH), immediately upon issuance of an initial
certificate or permit and at the time of renewal, their practice
status designated, as specified. Requires the California
Workforce Investment Board (CWIB), until January 1, 2019, to
establish a special committee known as the Health Workforce
Development Council (Council) to help expand the state's health
workforce in order to provide access to quality health care for
all Californians.
Existing law:
1.Establishes CWIB within the California Labor and Workforce
Development Agency to assist the Governor in the development,
oversight, and continuous improvement of California's
workforce investment system.
2.Establishes the Health Care Workforce Clearinghouse
(Clearinghouse) under Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development (OSHPD) to serve as the central source of health
care workforce and educational data in the state. Requires the
Clearinghouse to be responsible for the collection, analysis,
and distribution of information on the educational and
employment trends for health care occupations in the state.
3.Requires OSHPD to prepare an annual report to the Legislature
that identifies education and employment trends in the health
care profession, reports on the current supply and demand for
health care workers in California and gaps in the educational
pipeline producing workers in specific occupations and
geographic areas, and recommends state policy needed to
address issues of workforce shortage and distribution.
Continued---
AB 2214 | Page 2
This bill:
1.Requires certified radiologic technologists, limited
radiologic technology permit holders, nuclear medicine
technologists, and all clinical laboratory licensees,
including medical laboratory technicians, to report to DPH,
immediately upon issuance of an initial certificate or permit
and at the time of renewal, their practice status designated
as one of the following: full-time practice in California,
part-time practice in California, full-time practice outside
of California, retired, or other practice status, as may be
defined by DPH.
2.Requires the licensees above to report to DPH, immediately
upon issuance of an initial license and upon renewal,
information regarding his or her cultural background and
foreign language proficiency. Requires DPH to provide an
option for a licensee to decline to state his or her cultural
background and foreign language proficiency.
3.Requires DPH to collect the above information, and permits DPH
to aggregate and post this information on its website.
4.Prohibits a failure to report under this bill from
constituting a violation within the meaning of existing law
that provides for enforcement of licensing requirements.
5.Requires CWIB, until January 1, 2019, to establish a special
committee known as the Council to help expand the state's
health workforce in order to provide access to quality health
care for all Californians.
6.Requires the Council membership to consist of the appropriate
representatives from CWIB's existing membership, as well as
representatives from other state agencies and departments,
higher education, labor, the health care industry, workforce
groups, philanthropic and nongovernmental entities, and other
appropriate health advocates. Requires the CWIB representative
on the Council to be the chair.
7.Requires the Council to:
a. Develop a comprehensive statewide plan and
implementation strategy for health workforce development
through strategic partnerships;
b. Examine proven strategies and policies to increase
health workforce supply that can be replicated and deployed
through sector strategy and other models;
AB 2214 | Page
3
c. Provide guidance on the development and maturation of
regional health workforce partnerships to address regional
health care and delivery system needs;
d. Use regional partnerships to identify and inform
regional and statewide health workforce development
priorities; and
e. Seek expertise from multisector representatives to
enhance the understanding of the issues and policies needed
to ensure that California has the necessary workforce to
provide access to quality, and culturally and
linguistically appropriate, health care.
8.Requires the Council to provide the Legislature with a copy of
the CWIB's annual report to the federal Department of Labor,
as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis of a previous version of this bill, which
only contained the Council provisions:
1.Costs of an unknown amount, but likely less than $100,000, to
complete the study as described. To the extent these costs
exceed the conservancies existing budget resources, this
funding would come from voluntary private and nonprofit
resources, as specified in the bill.
2.Cost pressure of an unknown amount, but potentially in
millions of dollars, to fund development of the greenbelt and
other recreational uses of the wash that are the focus of the
study. (Bond funds or private funds.)
PRIOR VOTES :
Assembly Health: 13- 6
Assembly Appropriations:12- 5
Assembly Floor: 52- 26
COMMENTS :
1.Author's statement. To assist in the implementation of
federal health care reform and support the expansion of
insurance coverage, there is a need for an adequate health
care workforce with the necessary skills. AB 2214 will
establish within the CWIB the Council to help expand
California's healthcare workforce. The Council would provide a
forum for broad stakeholder agreement and allows for the
collaboration of various public, private, non-profit and
non-governmental groups to assist in developing a statewide
plan and implementation strategy for addressing the health
AB 2214 | Page 4
workforce needs of Californians, especially in primary care.
This bill ensures that healthcare workforce is a priority for
the state.
2.The Council. According to CWIB, the Council was established
in August 2010 to help alleviate workforce shortages in
California's health sector. The Council will be a broad
partnership consisting of industry representatives, education,
economic development, elected officials, the public workforce
system, philanthropic organizations, community-based
organizations, health professionals, advocacy organizations,
and organized labor. Its mission is to help expand
California's health workforce in order to provide access to
quality healthcare for all Californians. This includes the
objective of expanding California's full-time, primary care
workforce by 10 to 25 percent over 10 years.
The Council is tasked with understanding the current and future
health workforce needs of California and with developing a
comprehensive strategy to meet those needs. Health workforce
development issues will be addressed by the Council through
strategic actions at the state, regional, and local levels by
understanding, assessing and acting on the training and
education, skill development, and capacity and expansion needs
of the health sector. The Council functions as a special
committee of the State Board and staff support for the Council
will be provided by CWIB and OSHPD. Council meetings, the
first of which is anticipated to occur in early to mid-October
in Sacramento, will be open to the public along with agendas,
presentations, and other materials presented.
3.Workforce shortages. In March 2012, the Senate Health
Committee held two initial hearings in a series on
California's health care workforce. The background paper,
prepared by the Senate Office of Research (SOR), stated that
statewide shortages of health care providers currently exist
in several major health professions. Additionally, health care
workforce needs are projected to increase dramatically due to
the aging of the general population as well as health care
providers, population growth, expanding diversity and
implementation of the federal Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (ACA). Recent health care workforce
research indicates that health professional shortage,
distribution, and diversity issues impact access to primary,
allied, mental, and dental health care in California today.
AB 2214 | Page
5
The demand for these health care professions is also
forecasted to grow faster than professions in other
industries. According to the SOR paper, the scale and scope of
the problem is not well understood because data on the supply
and demand of health professions are incomplete and not
systematically or regularly updated.
4.Current data. The Center for Health Professions at UCSF, in
its report entitled "California's Health Care Workforce:
Readiness for the ACA Era", indicated that California lags the
nation on employment of imaging professionals per capita, and
that California hospitals are concerned about the supply of
imaging professionals, as vacancies in these areas have a
significant impact on care delivery and hospital efficiency.
Many experts predict that demand for imaging professionals
will continue to increase, driven by an aging population and
by the development of new imaging technologies and protocols.
In the same manner, there are also shortages for clinical
laboratory scientists and medical lab technologists. The
report also pointed out California-specific data on these
practitioners are lacking because DPH does not collect any
demographic information and information about these licensees
are often unavailable or difficult to track.
5.Prior legislation. AB 2375 (Hernandez) of 2008 would have
required OSHPD to establish the Health Professions Workforce
Task Force, as specified, to assist in the development of a
health professions workforce master plan. AB 2375 died on
suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 139 (Scott), Chapter 522, Statutes of 2007, established the
Clearinghouse under OSHPD to serve as the central source of
health care workforce and educational data in the state.
AB 269 (Eng), Chapter 262, Statutes of 2007, creates new
reporting requirements for dentists and dental auxiliaries
upon their application for initial licensure and renewal,
including reporting their completion of any advanced
educational program and their current employment status. AB
269 also requires the Dental Board of California and the
Committee on Dental Auxiliaries to collect and aggregate
information received from dentists and dental auxiliaries
relating to cultural background and foreign language
proficiency.
AB 2214 | Page 6
AB 2283 (Oropeza), Chapter 612, Statutes of 2006, requires the
Medical Board to annually aggregate existing data reported to
it by physicians on their cultural background and foreign
language proficiency, as specified, and report that
information on their website.
6.Support. According to the California Hospital Association,
establishing the Council within CWIB, and requiring the
Council to develop a comprehensive statewide plan and
implementation strategy for health workforce development
through strategic partnerships will lead to increased
coordination and collaboration around the issue, resulting in
the development of solutions that are responsive to regional
and statewide demand for health professionals. The California
Society of Health-System Pharmacists states that this bill
would improve the quality of life in California by ensuring
that there is adequate access to healthcare providers in the
near future.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: American Cancer Society
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
California Academy of Physician Assistants
California Commission on Aging
California Hospital Association
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California Psychological Association
California Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Kaiser Permanente
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Oppose: None received.
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