Bill Text: CA AB972 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Ken Maddy California Cancer Registry.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB972 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB972-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 972 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Jones
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 103886 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to disease reporting.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 972, as introduced, Jones. Ken Maddy California Cancer
Registry.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
establish a statewide system for the collection of information
determining the incidence of cancer known as the Ken Maddy California
Cancer Registry. Existing law authorizes the department to designate
any demographic parts of the state as regional cancer incidence
reporting areas and establish regional cancer registries to provide
cancer incidence data. Under existing law, all cancers diagnosed or
treated in the reported area are required to be reported to the
department or the authorized representative of the department.
Existing regulations require cancer reporting facilities and
physicians to employ a mechanism to ensure that their patients are
informed that the facility will report each patient with cancer to
the State Department of Public Health as required by law.
Under existing law, health care practitioners, including, among
others, physicians and surgeons, and any hospital or other facility
providing diagnostic or treatment services to patients with cancer
are required to grant to the department or the authorized
representative access to all records that would identify cases of
cancer or would establish characteristics of the cancer, treatment of
the cancer, or medical status of any identified cancer patient. All
information collected pursuant to those provisions is generally
required to be kept confidential. Existing law authorizes the
department to enter into agreements to furnish confidential
information to specified persons and entities, including other states'
cancer registries, local health officers, and health researchers.
This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to
inform a patient diagnosed with cancer by, or receiving cancer
therapy treatment from, a specified health care practitioner, or a
hospital or other facility within an area designated as a cancer
reporting area of the reporting requirement, and would require the
department to also notify a patient of specified information,
including, among other things, that the department is authorized to
release confidential patient information to health researchers. The
bill would prohibit cancer reporting facilities and physicians from
being required to employ a mechanism to ensure that their patients
are informed that the facility will report each patient with cancer
to the State Department of Public Health.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 103886 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
103886. (a) (1) A patient diagnosed with cancer, or provided
treatment for cancer, by a physician and surgeon, dentist,
podiatrist, or other health care practitioner or a patient receiving
cancer therapy treatment from any hospital or other facility within
an area designated as a cancer reporting area shall be informed by
the department of the reporting requirement described in subdivision
(d) of Section 103885. Cancer reporting facilities and physicians
shall not be required to employ a mechanism to ensure that their
patients are informed that cancer has been designated as a reportable
disease or that the facility will report each patient with cancer to
the department.
(2) The department shall notify the patient of all of the
following information:
(A) A description of the cancer registry, as provided in
subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 103885.
(B) An explanation of how the department obtains all records that
would identify cases of cancer and the type of information collected
by the department, as described in subdivision (f) of Section 103885.
(C) The purposes for which the information obtained by the
department is collected and intended to be used, as described in
subdivision (g) of Section 103885.
(D) The authority of the department to release confidential
patient information to any person with a valid scientific interest,
other states' cancer registries, federal cancer control agencies,
local health officers, or health researchers, pursuant to subdivision
(g) of Section 103885.
(E) The discretion of a patient to refuse to participate in any
research study and to request that his or her contact information be
withheld.
(F) The benefits of participating in cancer research, including,
but not limited to, the opportunity to contribute to the discovery of
improved treatments and survival rates for cancer patients.
(b) All notifications to the patient required under this section
shall be distributed in a cost-effective manner, including, but not
limited to, by e-mail.
(c) The department shall adopt regulations as it determines are
necessary for the implementation of this section in accordance with
the Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code.
