Long-term health care facilities: health-care-associated infection.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Public Health of health care facilities, including long-term health care facilities. Existing law, the Long-Term Care, Health Safety, and Security Act of 1973, imposes various requirements on long-term health care facilities. Violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would prohibit a long-term health care facility from refusing to place a patient based on the fact that the patient has been diagnosed with a health-care-associated infection, or tested positive for the presence of an organism. The bill would require a long-term health care facility to take specified measures for a patient diagnosed with a health-care-associated infection. This bill would also require a long-term health care facility to maintain a record of health-care-associated infections, and would require facility staff to receive education and training regarding the control of health-care-associated infections, as specified. By creating new crimes, 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.