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.
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Existing law, the Song-Brown Family Physician Training Act, declares the intent of the Legislature to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in the specialty of family practice and as primary care physician's assistants and primary care nurse practitioners. Existing law establishes, for this purpose, a state medical contract program with accredited medical schools, programs that train primary care physician's assistants, programs that train primary care nurse practitioners, registered nurses, hospitals, and other health care delivery systems. Existing law establishes the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, identify specific areas of the state that have unmet priority needs, and review and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development concerning the funding of those programs that are submitted to the Health Professions Development Program for participation in the state medical contract program. The bill would establish the Graduate Medical Education Fund in the State Treasury to consist of annual assessments, on insurers or health care services plans that provide prescribed health care coverage, of $5 per covered life. The bill would require that moneys in the fund be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to fund grants to graduate medical residency training programs. The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, in consultation with the Graduate Medical Education Council, to develop criteria for distribution of available funds. The bill would establish the Graduate Medical Education Council to be composed of 11 members who are to be appointed as specified. The bill would require the council to, among other things, review and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development concerning the funding of the medical residency training programs and submit to the Legislature an annual report, as specified. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
Existing law makes certain findings and declarations regarding the social obligation of private nonprofit hospitals to provide community benefits in the public interest, and requires these hospitals, among other responsibilities, to adopt and update a community benefits plan for providing community benefits either alone, in conjunction with other health care providers, or through other organizational arrangements. Existing law requires each private nonprofit hospital, as defined, to complete a community needs assessment, as defined, and to thereafter update the community needs assessment at least once every 3 years. Existing law also requires the hospital to file a report on its community benefits plan and the activities undertaken to address community needs with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Existing law requires the statewide office to make the plans available to the public. Existing law requires that each hospital include in its community benefits plan measurable objectives and specific benefits. This bill would declare the necessity of establishing uniform standards for reporting the amount of charity care and community benefits a facility provides to ensure that private nonprofit hospitals and nonprofit multispecialty clinics actually meet the social obligations for which they receive favorable tax treatment, among other findings and declarations. This bill would require a private nonprofit hospital and nonprofit multispecialty clinic, as defined, by January 1, 2016, to develop, in collaboration with the community, a community benefits statement, as specified, and a description of the process for approval of the community benefits statement by the hospital's or clinic's governing board, as specified. This bill would require the hospital or clinic, prior to adopting a community benefits plan, to complete a community needs assessment, as provided. The bill would authorize the hospital or clinic to create a community benefits advisory committee for the purpose of soliciting community input. This bill would require the hospital or clinic to make available to the public a copy of the assessment, file the assessment with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and update the assessment at least every 3 years. This bill would also require a private nonprofit hospital and nonprofit multispecialty clinic, by April 1, 2016, to develop a community benefits plan that includes a summary of the needs assessment and a statement of the community health care needs that will be addressed by the plan, and list the services, as provided, that the hospital or clinic intends to provide in the following year to address community health needs identified in the community health needs assessments. The bill would require the hospital or clinic to make its community health needs assessment and community benefits plan or community health plan available to the public on its Internet Web site and would require that a copy of the assessment and plan be given free of charge to any person upon request. This bill would require a private nonprofit hospital or nonprofit multispecialty clinic, after April 1, 2016, every 2 years to revise and submit its community benefits plan to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, as specified, and would allow a hospital or clinic under the common control of a single corporation or other entity to file a consolidated plan, as provided. The bill would require that the governing board of each hospital or clinic adopt the community benefits plan and make it available to the public, as specified. This bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to develop and adopt regulations to prescribe a standardized format for community benefits plans, as provided, to provide technical assistance to help private nonprofit hospitals and nonprofit multispecialty clinics exempt from licensure comply with the community benefits provisions, to make public each community health needs assessment and community benefits plan and any comments received regarding those assessments and plans, and to calculate and make public the total value of community benefits provided by hospitals, as specified. This bill would authorize the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to assess a civil penalty, as provided, against any hospital or clinic that fails to comply with these provisions. This bill would make conforming changes. Under existing law, patients with high medical costs who are at or below 350% of the federal poverty level are eligible to apply for participation under a hospital's charity care policy or discount care policy. A patient with high medical costs is defined as a patient who, among other things, does not receive a discounted rate from the hospital as a result of his or her third-party coverage. This bill would delete that limitation from the definition of a patient with a high medical costs.
Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and imposes certain requirements on health care service plans. Existing law imposes various fines and administrative penalties for certain violations of these provisions that are deposited in the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund. Existing law requires the first $1,000,000 in the fund to be transferred each year to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians for the purposes of the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program. Existing law requires all remaining funds to be transferred each year to the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund for purposes of the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program. Existing law establishes within the Health Professions Education Foundation the Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Program (STMSSP) , managed by the foundation and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to promote the education of medical doctors and doctors of osteopathy, as specified. Existing law establishes the Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Account within the Health Professions Education Fund, which consists of private moneys donated to the STMSSP. This bill would, require that, after the first $1,000,000, is transferred each year from the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, $600,000 be transferred each year from the fund to the Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Account, for purposes of the STMSSP. The bill would require that any amount remaining over the amounts transferred to those two accounts be transferred each year to the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund for purposes of the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. Existing law, the School-Based Early Mental Health Intervention and Prevention Services Matching Grant Program, authorizes the Director of Mental Health, in consultation with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to award matching grants to local educational agencies to pay the state share of the costs of providing programs that provide school-based early mental health intervention and prevention services to eligible pupils at schoolsites of eligible pupils, in accordance with specified criteria. This bill would impose a tax upon retailers for the privilege of selling ammunition at the rate of 10% of the gross receipts of any retailer from the sale of ammunition sold at retail in this state on or after July 1, 2014. It would also impose a comparable excise tax on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of ammunition purchased from a retailer for the storage, use, or other consumption in this state, as provided. The taxes would be collected pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. This bill would require that revenues collected pursuant to these taxes be deposited in the Ammunition Tax Fund, which this bill would create. This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the Ammunition Tax Fund to be allocated in specified percentages to the School-Based Early Mental Health Intervention and Prevention Services Matching Grant Program, and to the Public Safety Emergency Prevention Fund, which the bill would create. This bill would require the moneys in the Public Safety Emergency Prevention Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be expended by the Office of Emergency Services to fund public safety programs in high crime municipalities. Because this bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, and would create crimes for specified retailer misconduct, it 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. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Medi-Cal Act establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes specified entities to receive state summary criminal history information from the Department of Justice. Existing law also requires mandated reporters, as defined, to report child abuse and neglect to local law enforcement. This bill would require the department to provide state summary criminal history information to the director of a community youth athletics program, or his or her designee, for the purposes of screening volunteers or employees who are left alone with minors and would prohibit a person from having access to minors as an employee or volunteer if the person has been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to, a crime of child abuse, sexual abuse, or domestic violence. The bill would provide that completing the background check does not limit the liability of a mandated reporter.
Existing law requires the Department of Justice to develop a pamphlet that summarizes California firearms laws, and to offer copies of the pamphlet to firearms dealers for sale to retail purchasers or transferees of firearms. This bill would require the Attorney General to send a notice to each individual who has applied to purchase a firearm informing him or her of laws relating to firearms, gun trafficking, and safe storage, as provided. The bill would require the notice to include a link to a page on the Department of Justice's Internet Web site containing a summary of state firearm laws, which the bill would require the department to prepare and annually update.
This measure would designate that January 20, 2014, be observed as the official memorial of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth and commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America. This measure would also recognize the anniversaries of the Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington in connection with the advancement of civil rights.