Health facilities: licensure.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires the department, when an applicant for a general acute care hospital license meets the applicable requirements of licensure, to issue a single consolidated general acute care hospital license that includes more than one physical plant maintained and operated on separate premises or that has multiple licenses for a single health facility on the same premises, if any of certain criteria are met. One of these criteria is that the physical plants maintained and operated by the licensee that are to be covered by the single consolidated license are located not more than 15 miles apart. This bill would, until January 1, 2015, require the department to issue a single consolidated license to certain general acute care hospitals that include more than one physical plant maintained and operated on separate premises, if one of the physical plants is used as a freestanding emergency department that provides service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and other specified conditions are met. The bill would authorize the transfer of ownership of a freestanding emergency department if specified conditions are met. The bill would require, on or before May 1, 2014, the department to prepare and provide a report to the Legislature on the implementation of this bill and its effect upon the quality of emergency health care services provided to the community served by the freestanding emergency departments. It would also require the department to establish a committee to evaluate the quality and efficiency of services and improvement in patient access provided by freestanding emergency departments and provide a specified report to the Legislature and the Governor. Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, which governs local emergency medical service systems, establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) , which is responsible for the coordination and integration of all state agencies concerning emergency medical services. This bill would, until January 1, 2015, require the authority, in conjunction with the department and local emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, to develop and adopt triage criteria for the transportation of patients to freestanding emergency departments, as specified, and would require each local EMS agency to prepare and submit to the authority triage protocols to ensure that the use of a freestanding emergency department is in the best interests of patient care, consistent with the local plan. By increasing the duties of local officials, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.