General acute care hospitals.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties, including the licensing and regulation of health facilities, which include general acute care hospitals. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a special permit authorizing a health facility to offer one or more special services when specified requirements are met. Existing law provides for the application by general acute care hospitals for supplemental services approval and requires the department to, upon issuance and renewal of a license for certain health facilities, separately identify on the license each supplemental service. Existing law requires a hospital to report specified summary financial and utilization data to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) within 45 days of the end of the every calendar quarter. This bill would require a general acute care hospital that provides observation services, as defined, in an observation unit, as defined, to apply for approval from the department to provide these services either as supplemental services or under a special permit. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations for the provision of observation services in an observation unit under a special permit and as a supplemental service under the general acute care hospital's license. The bill would additionally set forth standards that apply to a hospital when providing observation services, generally, and, more specifically, to a hospital when providing observation services in an observation unit. The bill would require hospitals to include certain data relating to observation service visits and total observation service gross revenues in the reports filed with OSHPD. Because a violation of these provisions by a health facility would be a crime, the 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.