Bill Text: CA AB1357 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Emergency departments: diversion of patients.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1357 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1357-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1357 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Roger Hernández
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 1317 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1357, as amended, Roger Hernández. Emergency departments:
diversion of patients.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and
sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the
licensing and regulations of health facilities, including, but not
limited to, health facilities operating emergency departments.
Existing law requires a health facility maintaining or operating
an emergency department to provide emergency services and care to any
person requesting those services and care for any condition in which
the person is in danger of loss of life, or serious injury or
illness. Violation of these provisions is a crime.
This bill would require emergency room funds in the County of Los
Angeles that were approved by voter initiative, which are collected
from properties within the San Gabriel Valley, to remain in that
geographic region of the county.
This bill would establish a task force to study and audit the
funds collected from properties in the San Gabriel Valley since the
passage of the local voter initiative, and to report its findings to
the Legislature by January 1, 2015.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1317 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
1317. (a) Emergency services and care shall be provided to any
person requesting the services or care, or for whom services or care
is requested, for any condition in which the person is in danger of
loss of life, or serious injury or illness, at any health facility
licensed under this chapter that maintains and operates an emergency
department to provide emergency services to the public when the
health facility has appropriate facilities and qualified personnel
available to provide the services or care.
(b) In no event shall the provision of emergency services and care
be based upon, or affected by, the person's ethnicity, citizenship,
age, preexisting medical condition, insurance status, economic
status, ability to pay for medical services, or any other
characteristic listed or defined in subdivision (b) or (e) of Section
51 of the Civil Code, except to the extent that a circumstance such
as age, sex, preexisting medical condition, or physical or mental
disability is medically significant to the provision of appropriate
medical care to the patient.
(c) Neither the health facility, its employees, nor any physician
and surgeon, dentist, clinical psychologist, or podiatrist shall be
liable in any action arising out of a refusal to render emergency
services or care if the refusal is based on the determination,
exercising reasonable care, that the person is not suffering from an
emergency medical condition, or that the health facility does not
have the appropriate facilities or qualified personnel available to
render those services.
(d) Emergency services and care shall be rendered without first
questioning the patient or any other person as to his or her ability
to pay therefor. However, the patient or his or her legally
responsible relative or guardian shall execute an agreement to pay
therefor or otherwise supply insurance or credit information promptly
after the services are rendered.
(e) If a health facility subject to this chapter does not maintain
an emergency department, its employees shall nevertheless exercise
reasonable care to determine whether an emergency exists and shall
direct the persons seeking emergency care to a nearby facility that
can render the needed services, and shall assist the persons seeking
emergency care in obtaining the services, including transportation
services, in every way reasonable under the circumstances.
(f) No act or omission of any rescue team established by any
health facility licensed under this chapter, or operated by the
federal or state government, a county, or by the Regents of the
University of California, done or omitted while attempting to
resuscitate any person who is in immediate danger of loss of life
shall impose any liability upon the health facility, the officers,
members of the staff, nurses, or employees of the health facility,
including, but not limited to, the members of the rescue team, or
upon the federal or state government or a county, if good faith is
exercised.
(g) "Rescue team," as used in this section, means a special group
of physicians and surgeons, nurses, and employees of a health
facility who have been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and
have been designated by the health facility to attempt, in cases of
emergency, to resuscitate persons who are in immediate danger of loss
of life.
(h) (1) This subdivision facilitates the continuation and
expansion of emergency medical services and trauma services in the
San Gabriel Valley.
(2) For the purpose of emergency room funds in the County of Los
Angeles that were approved by voter initiative in that county, funds
collected from properties within the San Gabriel Valley shall remain
in that geographic region of the county.
(3) Funds allocated pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be used for
the purposes intended by the voter initiative, within that geographic
area, to reduce ambulance diversion.
(4) A task force is hereby established consisting of the Director
of the Emergency Medical Services Authority, the Director of the
State Department of Public Health, the California State Auditor, and
a representative of a local hospital task force to be selected by the
other members. The task force shall study and audit the funds
collected from properties in the San Gabriel Valley since the passage
of the local voter initiative to gain an understanding as to how the
moneys have been allocated and to gage what improvements, if any,
have been made. The task force shall report its findings to the
Legislature by January 1, 2015.
(i) This section shall not relieve a health facility of any duty
otherwise imposed by law upon the health facility for the designation
and training of members of a rescue team or for the provision or
maintenance of equipment to be used by a rescue team.
