BILL NUMBER: SB 675	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Liu

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to add Section 1262.55 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 675, as introduced, Liu. Health facilities: family caregivers.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
license and regulate health facilities, defined to mean a facility,
place, or building that is organized, maintained, and operated for
the diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment of human illness, as
specified. Existing law requires hospitals, among other things, to
have a written discharge planning policy and process that requires
appropriate arrangements to be made for posthospital care. A
violation of those provisions is a crime.
   This bill would, subject to the federal Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, require a hospital and
any health facility that provides inpatient medical rehabilitation
services to take specified actions relating to family caregivers,
including, among others, notifying the family caregiver when the
person to whom care is provided will be discharged to another
facility or to home and providing an explanation and live instruction
of care that the family caregiver will be providing. By expanding
the scope of a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1262.55 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
immediately following Section 1262.5, to read:
   1262.55.  (a) Subject to the provisions of the federal Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. Sec.
300gg), a hospital and any health facility that provides inpatient
medical rehabilitation services shall do all of the following:
   (1) Record the name of a family caregiver, if any, when the person
to whom care is provided is admitted to the facility.
   (2) Notify the family caregiver when the person to whom care is
provided will be discharged to another facility or to home.
   (3) Provide an explanation and live instruction of care that the
family caregiver will be providing.
   (4) Provide telephonic technical assistance to the family
caregiver when the family caregiver has questions regarding care to
be provided.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "family caregiver" means a
relative, friend, or neighbor who provides assistance related to an
underlying physical or mental disability but who is unpaid for those
services.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.