Health facilities: influenza.

Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health licenses and regulates various types of health facilities, including general acute care hospitals. Existing law requires a general acute care hospital to offer, each year, commencing October 1 to the following April 1, inclusive, prior to discharge, immunizations for influenza and pneumococcal disease to inpatients, 65 years of age or older, based upon the adult immunization recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the recommendations of appropriate entities for the prevention, detection, and control of influenza outbreaks in California general acute care hospitals, pursuant to the hospital's standardized procedures and if the hospital has the vaccine in its possession. This bill would require each general acute care hospital to offer onsite vaccinations for influenza to all inpatients prior to discharge, annually, beginning no later than October 1 and ending on the following April 1, except when there is a state vaccine shortage or when a physician does not recommend that the patient receive an influenza vaccine due to potential health hazards, pursuant to the standardized procedures of the hospital and in accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, as specified. The bill would also require a general acute care hospital that offers vaccinations pursuant to this provision to inform each inpatient that he or she may be required to pay for the cost of the vaccination.