Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment form: electronic registry pilot.

Existing law defines a request regarding resuscitative measures as a written document, signed by an individual with capacity, or a legally recognized health care decisionmaker, and the individual's physician, directing a health care provider regarding resuscitative measures. Existing law defines a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment form, which is commonly referred to as a POLST form, and provides that a request regarding resuscitative measures includes a POLST form. Existing law requires that a POLST form and the medical intervention and procedures offered by the form be explained by a health care provider. Existing law distinguishes a request regarding resuscitative measures from an advance health care directive. This bill would enact the California POLST eRegistry Pilot Act. The bill would require the Emergency Medical Services Authority to establish a pilot project, in consultation with stakeholders, to operate an electronic registry system on a pilot basis, to be known as the California POLST eRegistry Pilot, for the purpose of collecting POLST information received from a physician or physician's designee. The bill would require the authority to coordinate the POLST eRegistry Pilot, which would be operated by health information exchange networks, by an independent contractor, or by a combination thereof. The bill would require the authority to implement these provisions only after it determines that sufficient nonstate funds are available for development of the POLST eRegistry Pilot, any related startup costs, and an evaluation of the POLST eRegistry Pilot. When the POLST eRegistry Pilot is operable in the geographic area in which he or she operates or practices, a physician or physician's designee who completes POLST information would be required to include the POLST information in the patient's official medical record and would be required to submit a copy of the form to, or to enter the information into, the POLST eRegistry Pilot, unless a patient or his or her health care decisionmaker chooses not to participate in the POLST eRegistry Pilot. The bill would require the authority to adopt guidelines for, among other things, the operation of the POLST eRegistry Pilot, including the means by which POLST information would be submitted electronically, modified, or withdrawn, the appropriate and timely methods for dissemination of POLST form information, the procedures for verifying the identity of an authorized user, and rules for maintaining the confidentiality of POLST information received by the POLST eRegistry Pilot. The bill would require that any disclosure of POLST information in the POLST eRegistry Pilot be made in accordance with applicable state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations. The bill would provide immunity from criminal prosecution, civil liability, discipline for unprofessional conduct, and any other sanction for a health care provider who honors a patient's request regarding resuscitative measures obtained from the POLST eRegistry Pilot, as specified. The bill would require an independent contractor approved by the authority to conduct an evaluation of the POLST eRegistry Pilot. The provisions of the bill would be operative until January 1, 2020.