Health care practitioners: peer review: voluntary remediation.

Existing law requires peer review bodies, as defined, and the chief executive officer or administrator of any licensed health care facility or clinic to file reports with the applicable state licensing agency of specified health care practitioners upon the occurrence of specified events, including, without limitation, a practitioner voluntarily accepting restrictions on staff privileges, membership, or employment, as specified, for a medical disciplinary cause or reason. Existing law also entitles a practitioner to a hearing, as specified, concerning a final proposed action for which a report is required to be filed. Existing law prohibits a hearing officer from gaining any direct financial benefit from the outcome, from acting as a prosecuter or advocate, and from having a vote. This bill would provide an alternative to the requirement to file a report of voluntary acceptance of these restrictions, by authorizing a peer review body to impose, and a practitioner to accept, voluntary remediation which may include mandatory proctoring, consultation, education, and retraining. The bill would also authorize the peer review body to limit the practitioner's staff privileges, and prohibit a practitioner from seeking new staff privileges, during the pendency of the voluntary remediation. The bill would also require the reporting person, as defined, to file a report, as specified, with the applicable agency within 15 days following the commencement date of a voluntary remediation, to immediately file a supplementary report if the practitioner fails to fulfill the terms of the remediation, and to file another report within 30 days following completion of a remediation. The bill would require the reporting person to provide the subject practitioner with all reports it files and with a notice of the practitioner's right to submit additional statements or other information. Within 15 days following the commencement of a voluntary remediation, the reporting person would be required to provide a notice of remediation to each facility where the practitioner then has staff privileges. The bill would provide that a practitioner who accepts a voluntary remediation is not entitled to a hearing with respect to the remediation, and would specify that a practitioner who rejects the remediation would be entitled to a hearing concerning any proposed final action for which a reporting person is required to file a report pursuant to existing law. The bill would prohibit a lawyer who has represented the applicable peer review body or licensed health care facility or clinic within the prior 2 years from serving as a hearing officer, and would prohibit any hearing officer from gaining any benefit from the outcome. The bill would also make conforming changes.