BILL NUMBER: SB 675	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 21, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Liu

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to add Section 1262.55 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 675, as amended, Liu. Health facilities: family caregivers.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
license and regulate health facilities, defined to mean a facility,
place, or building that is organized, maintained, and operated for
the diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment of human illness, as
specified. Existing law requires hospitals, among other things, to
have a written discharge planning policy and process that requires
appropriate arrangements to be made for posthospital care. A
violation of those provisions is a crime.
   This bill would, subject to the federal Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, require a hospital
 and any health facility that provides inpatient medical
rehabilitation services  to take specified actions relating
to family caregivers, including, among others, notifying the family
caregiver  when the person to whom care is provided will be
discharged   of the patient's discharge or transfer
 to another facility  or to home and providing an
explanation and live instruction of care that the family caregiver
will be providing   and providing information or
instruction regarding the posthospital care needs of the patient
 . By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1262.55 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
immediately following Section 1262.5, to read:
   1262.55.  (a) Subject to the provisions of the federal Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. Sec.
300gg), a hospital  and any health facility that provides
inpatient medical rehabilitation services  shall do all of
the following: 
   (1) Record the name of a family caregiver, if any, when the person
to whom care is provided is admitted to the facility. 

   (2) Notify the family caregiver when the person to whom care is
provided will be discharged to another facility or to home. 

   (3) Provide an explanation and live instruction of care that the
family caregiver will be providing.  
   (4) Provide telephonic technical assistance to the family
caregiver when the family caregiver has questions regarding care to
be provided.  
   (1) Provide an opportunity for an individual patient who has been
admitted to the hospital as an inpatient to identify one family
caregiver who may assist in posthospital care, and record that
information in the patient's medical chart.  
   (A) In the event that the patient is unconscious or otherwise
incapacitated upon admittance to the hospital, the hospital shall
provide the patient or patient's legal guardian with an opportunity
to designate a caregiver within a specified time period, at the
discretion of the attending physician, following the patient's
recovery of consciousness or capacity. The hospital shall promptly
document the attempt in the patient's medical record.  
   (B) In the event that the patient or legal guardian declines to
designate a caregiver pursuant to this section, the hospital shall
promptly document this declination in the patient's medical record,
when appropriate.  
   (2) Notify the patient's designated family caregiver of the
patient's discharge or transfer to another facility as soon as
possible and, in any event, upon issuance of a discharge order by the
patient's attending physician. If the hospital is unable to contact
the designated caregiver, the lack of contact shall not interfere
with, delay, or otherwise affect the medical care provided to the
patient or an appropriate discharge of the patient. The hospital
shall promptly document the attempted notification in the patient's
medical record.  
   (3) Provide an opportunity for the patient and his or her
designated family caregiver to engage in the discharge planning
process, which shall include providing information or instruction
regarding the posthospital care needs of the patient, and education
and counseling about the patient's medications, including dosing and
proper use of medication delivery devices, when applicable. This
instruction shall be provided in a culturally competent manner and in
a language that is comprehensible to the patient and caregiver,
consistent with the requirements of state and federal law.  

   (4) Provide contact information for any health care service,
community resource, or other service necessary to successfully carry
out the care plan.  
   (b) Discharge planning policies adopted by a hospital in
accordance with this section shall ensure that planning is
appropriate to the condition of the patient being discharged from the
hospital and to the discharge destination and meets the needs and
acuity of patients and the abilities of the designated family
caregiver.  
   (c) This section does not require a hospital to do either of the
following:  
   (1) Adopt a policy that would delay discharge or transfer of a
patient.  
   (2) Disclose information if the patient has not provided consent
that meets the standards required by state and federal laws governing
the privacy and security of protected health information.

   (b) 
    (d)  For the purposes of this section, "family caregiver"
means a relative, friend, or neighbor who provides assistance
related to an underlying physical or mental disability but who is
unpaid for those services.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.