BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 630
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 2, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  SB 630 (Alquist) - As Amended:  January 18, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                             HealthVote:19-0

          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill permits Stanford Hospital and Clinics (Stanford 
          Hospital) and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford 
          (Lucille Packard), for the purposes of providing emergency 
          services and care to patients in active labor presenting in the 
          emergency department (ED) of Stanford Hospital, to be treated as 
          a single licensed facility if the two hospitals have entered 
          into an agreement that satisfies certain patient safety 
          conditions.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible state costs.

           COMMENTS  


           1)Rationale  . According to the author, this bill is a narrowly 
            tailored patient safety bill to help expectant mothers obtain 
            optimal care when they arrive in active labor at Stanford 
            Hospital ED. 

           2)Background  . Lucille Packard and Stanford Hospital are 
            adjoining, physically connected hospitals on the Stanford 
            campus that have been operating under a unique joint 
            arrangement. Stanford offers a range of ED services but does 
            not offer labor and delivery services, while Lucille Packard 
            offers labor and delivery but not other ED services.  The two 
            entities have been operating pursuant to a memorandum of 
            understanding (MOU) that specifies women in active labor will 
            be transferred to Lucille Packard.  Following a federal review 
            of the MOU by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 








                                                                  SB 630
                                                                  Page  2

            where the MOU was deemed acceptable, the California Department 
            of Public Health reviewed the MOU and found it violates state 
            law that requires a patient be examined by a physician prior 
            to transfer from the ED.  Stanford Hospital indicates patients 
            in active labor can face up to a 90-minute delay to satisfy 
            existing law's requirements. This bill would carve out a 
            specific exemption to this law for these two hospitals.

           3)Urgency.  This bill states that an urgency clause is necessary 
            in order to more expeditiously transfer patients who are 
            presenting in active labor to a hospital that may provide more 
            specialized care. 


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081