CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1943

Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

January 29, 2024

An act to add Section 130209.5 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1943, as introduced, Weber. Health information.
Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, which includes departments charged with the administration of health, social, and other human services. Existing law establishes the Center for Data Insights and Innovation within the California Health and Human Services Agency to ensure the enforcement of state law mandating the confidentiality of medical information. Existing law requires the center to develop tools and education related to improvement of consumer access to care, quality of care, and addressing the disparities in quality of care related to socioeconomic status. Existing law also establishes the State Department of Health Care Services and requires the department, among other things, to administer the Medi-Cal program.
This bill would require the department, in collaboration with the agency, to collect appropriate data and identify indicators for tracking telehealth outcomes associated with impacting individual patient outcomes and overall population health. The bill would require the department to use the data collected to measure health outcomes of populations, as specified.
The bill would make a related intent statement.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to advance the use of telehealth and increase access to health care by establishing state policy that optimizes the use of telehealth to augment and enhance health and medical care for all California residents, especially those residents who are medically underserved, in order to improve individual patient outcomes and overall population health.

SEC. 2.

 Section 130209.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

130209.5.
 (a) The State Department of Health Care Services, in collaboration with the California Health and Human Services Agency, shall collect appropriate data and identify indicators for tracking telehealth outcomes associated with impacting individual patient outcomes and overall population health. The department shall collect all of the following data:
(1) Medi-Cal program data that tracks individual and overall population health outcomes.
(2) Medi-Cal program data on who has access to telehealth, the effectivenesss of telehealth, and access to special care.
(3) Medi-Cal program morbidity and mortality data, including environmental factors.
(b) The department shall use the data collected pursuant to subdivision (a) to measure the health outcomes of populations by using all of the following determinants:
(1) Medical care.
(2) Public health interventions.
(3) Social determinants, including income, employment, social support, and culture.
(4) Physical environment, including urban design, air quality, and access to clean water.
(5) Genetics.
(6) Individual behavior.