Elder death review teams: information requests.

Existing law allows a county to establish an interagency elder death team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious elder deaths. Under existing law, the team may request specified information for its review, subject to prescribed confidentiality requirements. This bill would make conforming changes to refer to elder death review teams and would allow an elder death review team to request and obtain copies of certificates of death from the local registrar of births and deaths, subject to any fee requirements. Under existing law, deaths are required to be registered with the local registrar of births and deaths in the district in which the death occurs. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to enforce the laws pertaining to vital records, including certificates of death. Existing law requires the department to implement an Internet-based electronic death registration system. This bill would authorize the chair, cochair, or an agent of the chair or cochair, of a county elder death review team to participate in the Internet-based electronic death registration system to access specified information. Under existing law health facilities, including skilled nursing facilities, are required to file an annual report to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development containing prescribed data. This bill would require skilled nursing facilities, except for a skilled nursing facility that is a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, also to include within this report specified data on persons who have died in the facility. The bill would require the office to compile and make available this data to a requesting county elder death review team and would allow the office, upon request of the team, to provide additional information, as specified.