BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1621
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1621 (Lowenthal and Rodriguez)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
HEALTH 19-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Pan, Maienschein, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Ammiano, Chau, Bonilla, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Bonta, Ch�vez, Chesbro, | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Gomez, Gonzalez, Roger | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Hern�ndez, Lowenthal, | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| |Waldron, Nazarian, | |Pan, Quirk, |
| |Nestande, Patterson, | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, | |Weber |
| |Wieckowski | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority
(EMSA) to develop regulations and standards for the electronic
collection of pre-hospital emergency medical services (EMS) data
area to determine statewide coordination and effectiveness of
EMS services. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, on or before July 1, 2016, EMSA to adopt minimum
standards for the collection of information regarding
prehospital care using the existing California Emergency
Medical Services Data and Information System (CEMSIS) to
determine and monitor the quality and effectiveness of the
statewide emergency medical system, compliant with the most
current National Emergency Medical Services Information System
(NEMSIS) standards.
2)Requires EMSA to develop regulations and standards for
electronic patient care record systems used by local emergency
medical services agencies (LEMSAs) and local pre-hospital EMS
providers to ensure compatibility with CEMSIS.
3)Requires a LEMSA that upgrades or purchases an electronic
patient care system on or after the date EMSA issues final
guidance to ensure the system complies with standards of that
guidance.
AB 1621
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4)Makes the enactment of this bill contingent upon an
appropriation in the annual State Budget.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time information technology costs in the range of
$300,000. The requirements of the system are not specified in
detail, and would be elucidated through the regulatory
process.
2)One-time administrative costs to EMSA in the range of $300,000
to develop standards and regulations, and minor ongoing
administrative costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, the mission of EMSA is to
ensure quality patient care by administering an effective,
statewide system of coordinated emergency medical care, injury
prevention, and disaster medical response. One of EMSA's goals
is to ensure that data systems in EMS are positioned for the
electronic capture of data and transmission to the hospital in
real time. In 2012, EMSA received a grant from the California
HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) to increase the accessibility and
accuracy of pre-hospital data for public, policy, academic and
research purposes to facilitate system evaluation and
improvement. The CHCF-funded projected revealed that the
existing CEMSIS system had a number of weaknesses that made it
difficult for EMSA to validate information, the variability in
methodology limited its usefulness, and the lack of hospital
outcome data limited the ability of LEMSAs to obtain universal
outcome data.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
writes in support of this bill because it would provide
important statewide data on the quality and effectiveness of EMS
services, allow policymakers, EMS providers, and the public to
access information, and to ultimately improve patient care.
American Medical Response, also in support, states this bill
will provide important data needed to assess existing systems
and establish performance indicators and quality initiatives
across the state. The California Hospital Association states in
support that EMS providers must be prepared at all times for the
unexpected and patient handoff communication from the ambulances
to the emergency departments is one of the most critical
AB 1621
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information-dependent components of the process.
The Emergency Medical Services Administrators Association of
California, California State Association of Counties, and County
Health Executives Association of California all write in
opposition to this bill. The opposition is supportive of
expanding the use of electronic EMS data, but not the costly
regulatory mandate on counties and EMS providers. The American
Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the
Consumer Federation of California all write that they are
opposed to this bill, unless it is amended to include crucial
language about privacy and security of sensitive medical data.
Analysis Prepared by : Patty Rodgers / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097
FN: 0003699