SB 798

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons. Existing law requires the Governor to appoint members to the board, as provided. Existing law authorizes the board to employ an executive director, investigators, legal counsel, medical consultants, and other assistance as specified. Existing law requires the Attorney General to act as legal counsel for the board, as specified. Existing law provides that those provisions will be repealed on January 1, 2018. This bill would instead repeal those provisions on January 1, 2022. Existing law requires all moneys paid to and received by the Medical Board of California to be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California, which, except for fine and penalty money, is a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would make the moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law establishes a peer review process for certain healing arts licensees and requires peer review bodies to review licensee conduct under specified circumstances. Existing law makes the willful failure of a peer review body to make specified reports a crime. Existing law provides that there shall be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages shall arise against, certain health related professional societies or its members for acts performed within the scope of the functions of peer review, as provided. This bill would apply these provisions to licensed midwives. Because the willful failure of such a peer review body to make specified reports would be punishable as a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law prohibits the proceedings and records of organized committees of healing arts professions or of a peer review body from being subject to discovery, except as specified. This bill would apply these provisions to the proceedings and records of committees or peer review bodies of licensed midwives, except as specified. The Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act provides for the organization of a corporation under certain existing law for the purposes of qualifying as a professional corporation under that act and rendering professional services. The act authorizes specified healing arts practitioners to be shareholders, officers, directors, or professional employees of a designated professional corporation, subject to certain limitations relating to ownership of shares. This bill would add licensed midwives to the lists of healing arts practitioners who may be shareholders, officers, directors, or professional employees of a medical corporation, a psychological corporation, a nursing corporation, a marriage and family therapist corporation, a licensed clinical social worker corporation, a physician assistants corporation, a chiropractic corporation, an acupuncture corporation, a naturopathic doctor corporation, a professional clinical counselor corporation, a physical therapy corporation, and a registered dental hygienist in alternative practice corporation. The bill would also add a licensed midwives corporation to the list of professional corporations, and would authorize licensed physicians and surgeons, licensed psychologists, registered nurses, licensed marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed physician assistants, licensed chiropractors, licensed acupuncturists, licensed naturopathic doctors, licensed professional clinical counselors, and licensed physical therapists to be shareholders, officers, directors, or professional employees, subject to those limitations relating to ownership of shares. Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, creates, within the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Medical Board of California consisting of 15 members. The act requires the board to elect a president from its members, and authorizes the board to appoint panels from its members for the purpose of fulfilling specified obligations. The act prohibits the president of the board from being a member of any panel unless there is a vacancy in the membership of the board. This bill would discontinue that prohibition on the president being a member of a panel. Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to establish a nonprofit public benefit corporation known as the Health Professions Education Foundation to perform various duties with respect to implementing health professions scholarship and loan programs. Existing law requires the foundation to be governed by a board consisting of 9 members appointed by the Governor, one member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and one member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. Existing law requires the Governor to appoint the president of the board of trustees from among those members appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Committee on Rules. Existing law requires the members of the board to serve without compensation but requires that they be reimbursed for any actual and necessary expenses incurred in connection with their duties as members of the board. This bill would add to that governing board of the foundation 2 members appointed by the Medical Board of California. The bill would include these members in the list of members from which the Governor is required to appoint the president of the board. The bill would require the Medical Board of California to reimburse its 2 appointed members for any actual and necessary expenses incurred in connection with their duties as members of the board. The bill would require the Medical Board of California to reimburse its 2 appointed foundation board members for any actual and necessary expenses incurred in connection with their duties as members of the foundation board. Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, requires the Medical Board of California to post on the Internet certain information regarding licensed physicians and surgeons. This bill would require the board to initiate the process of adopting regulations on or before January 1, 2019, to require its licentiates and registrants to provide notice to their clients or patients that the practitioner is licensed or registered in this state by the board, that the practitioner's license can be checked, and that complaints against the practitioner can be made through the board's Internet Web site or by contacting the board. Existing law makes it unlawful for a healing arts practitioner to disseminate or cause to be disseminated any form of public communication containing a false, fraudulent, misleading, or deceptive statement, claim, or image for the purpose of or likely to induce, directly or indirectly, the rendering of professional services or furnishing of products in connection with the professional practice or business for which he or she is licensed. Existing law prohibits a physician and surgeon from including a statement that he or she is certified or eligible for certification by a private or public board or parent association, including a multidisciplinary board or association, as defined, unless that board or association is one of a specified list of boards and associations, including a board or association with equivalent requirements approved by that physician and surgeon's licensing board. Existing law requires the Medical Board of California to adopt regulations to establish and collect a reasonable fee from each board or association applying for recognition. This bill would discontinue the Medical Board of California approval of a board or association. The bill would continue to authorize a physician and surgeon to make a statement that he or she is certified or eligible for certification by a board or association with equivalent requirements approved by that physician's and surgeon's licensing board prior to January 1, 2019. Existing law requires each applicant for a physician's and surgeon's certificate to show by official transcript or other official evidence that he or she has successfully completed a medical curriculum meeting specified requirements. This bill would remove these medical curriculum requirements on January 1, 2020. Existing law, until January 1, 2020, requires an applicant to show by evidence satisfactory to the board that he or she has satisfactorily completed at least one year of postgraduate training. Existing law requires the postgraduate training to be obtained in a postgraduate training program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This bill, beginning January 1, 2020, would instead require an applicant to show by evidence successfully to the board that he or she has satisfactorily completed at least 36 months of board-approved postgraduate training. The bill would authorize an applicant to obtain postgraduate training in a postgraduate training program approved by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. The bill would make eligible for licensure an applicant who has completed at least 36 months of board-approved postgraduate training, not less than 24 months of which was completed as a resident after receiving a medical degree from a combined dental and medical degree program accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation or approved by the board. Existing law authorizes a graduate of an approved medical school who is enrolled in a postgraduate training program approved by the board to engage in the practice of medicine whenever and wherever required as part of the program under specified conditions. This bill, beginning January 1, 2020, would add to these conditions a requirement that the medical school graduate obtain a postgraduate training license, as specified. The bill would authorize the board to deny a post graduate training license, as specified. Existing law requires an applicant who is a graduate of a medical school located outside of the United States or Canada to make an application to the board prior to commencing any postgraduate training in this state. Existing law authorizes the board to deny a postgraduate training authorization letter to an applicant who is guilty of unprofessional conduct or of any cause for revocation or suspension of a license. This bill would remove the authorization of the board to deny a postgraduate training authorization letter to an applicant for those reasons. Existing law requires an applicant for a physician's and surgeon's certificate whose professional instruction was acquired in a country other than the United States or Canada to provide evidence satisfactory to the board of satisfactory completion of various requirements, including showing by evidence satisfactory to the board that he or she has satisfactorily completed at least 2 years of postgraduate training. This bill would recast some of those provisions and make conforming changes to other provisions. The bill would require those applicants to show by evidence satisfactory to the board that he or she has satisfactorily completed at least 36 months of board-approved postgraduate training. Under existing law, specified licenses, certificates, registrations, and permits issued by or under the Medical Board of California expire and become invalid at midnight on the last day of February of each even numbered year, if not renewed, as specified. This bill would repeal this provision. Existing law authorizes the holder of a special faculty permit to practice medicine, without a physician's and surgeon's certificate, within a medical school and certain affiliated institutions. Under existing law, a special faculty permit expires and becomes invalid at midnight on the last day of the permitholder's birth month during the 2nd year of a 2-year term, if not renewed. The bill would instead specify that a special faculty permit expires and becomes invalid at midnight on the last day of the month in which the permit was issued during the 2nd year of a 2-year term commencing from the date of issuance, if not renewed. The Medical Practice Act creates, within the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California, the California Board of Podiatric Medicine. Under the act, certificates to practice podiatric medicine expire on a certain date during the 2nd year of a 2-year term if not renewed. The act authorizes a doctor of podiatric medicine who is ankle certified, as specified, to perform certain services and procedures. This bill would instead create the California Board of Podiatric Medicine in the Department of Consumer Affairs, and would make conforming and related changes. The bill would prohibit construing the amendments made by the bill relating to podiatrists to change any rights or privileges held by podiatrists prior to enactment of the bill. The bill would discontinue the ankle certification requirement for a doctor of podiatric medicine to perform those services and procedures. Under the act, certificates to practice podiatric medicine and registrations of spectacle lens dispensers and contact lens dispensers, among others, expire on a certain date during the 2nd year of a 2-year term if not renewed. This bill would discontinue the requirement for the expiration of the registrations of spectacle lens dispensers and contact lens dispensers. Existing law requires the chief of staff of a medical or professional staff or other chief executive officer, medical director, or administrator of a peer review body, as defined, and the chief executive officer or administrator of a licensed health care facility or clinic to file reports with the applicable state licensing agency of specified health care practitioners upon the occurrence of specified events. This bill would impose a $100,000 fine for a willful failure to file a specified report and a $50,000 fine for all other failures to file the report. Existing law requires an accredited outpatient setting to report an adverse event, as defined, to the Medical Board of California no later than 5 days after the adverse event has been detected, or, if that event is an ongoing urgent or emergent threat to the welfare, health, or safety of patients, personnel, or visitors, not later than 24 hours after the adverse event has been detected. This bill would redefine adverse event for those purposes and would require the outpatient setting to inform the patient or the party responsible for the patient of the adverse event by the time the report is made. Existing law requires the board to promptly revoke the license of any person who has been required to register as a sex offender. Existing law authorizes certain individuals whose license was revoked under this provision to petition a specified superior court to hold a hearing within one year of the date of the petition, in order for the court to determine whether the individual no longer poses a possible risk to patients. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General and the board to present written and oral argument to the court on the merits of the petition. This bill would instead require the board to make the revocation automatically, regardless of whether the related conviction has been appealed. The bill would require the board to notify the licensee of the license revocation and of his or her right to elect to have a hearing. The bill would authorize the holder of the physician's and surgeon's certificate to request a hearing, as specified, within 30 days of the revocation. The bill would require the revocation to cease automatically if the conviction is overturned on appeal. The bill would require the Attorney General and the board to present written and oral argument to the court on the merits of a petition to determine whether an individual who was required to register as a sex offender no longer poses a possible risk to patients. Existing law authorizes the administrative law judge of the Medical Quality Hearing Panel to issue an interim order suspending a license or imposing license restrictions, as specified. Existing law requires the order to be dissolved if an accusation is not filed and served, as specified, within 30 days of the date on which the parties to the hearing on the order have submitted the matter. This bill would also require the order to be dissolved if a petition to revoke probation is not filed and served, as specified, within 30 days of the date on which the parties to the hearing on the order have submitted the matter. Existing law prohibits a party's use of expert testimony in matters brought by the Medical Board of California unless specified information, including a brief narrative statement of the general substance of the testimony that the expert is expected to give, is exchanged in written form with the counsel for the other party. Existing law requires the exchange of information to be completed at least 30 days prior to the commencement date of the hearing. This bill would instead require the exchange of information to be completed 30 calendar days prior to the originally scheduled commencement date of the hearing, or as determined by an administrative law judge, as specified. The bill would replace the requirement that a brief narrative statement be exchanged with the requirement that a complete expert witness report, as specified, be exchanged. Existing law establishes the Health Quality Enforcement Section within the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute proceedings against licensees and applicants within the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California, the California Board of Podiatric Medicine, the Board of Psychology, or any committee under the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California. Existing law requires each complaint that is referred to a district office of one of these boards for investigation to be jointly assigned to an investigator and to the deputy attorney general in the Health Quality Enforcement Section of the Department of Justice responsible for prosecuting the case if the investigation results in the filing of an accusation. This bill, on January 1, 2019, would repeal the provision pertaining to joint assignment for investigation and prosecution. Existing law establishes the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, the Medical Board of California, the California Board of Podiatric Medicine within the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, the Naturopathic Medicine Committee, and the Acupuncture Board for the licensure and regulation of chiropractors, physicians and surgeons, podiatrists, osteopathic physicians and surgeons, naturopathic doctors, and acupuncturists, respectively. Existing law authorizes each of those regulatory entities to discipline its licensee by placing that licensee on probation, as specified. Existing law also requires 3 of those regulatory entities, the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, and the California Board of Podiatric Medicine, to disclose to an inquiring member of the public and to post on their Internet Web sites specified information concerning licensees including revocations, suspensions, probations, and limitations on practice. This bill would require the California Board of Podiatric Medicine, on and after July 1, 2018, to provide certain information regarding licensees on probation and licensees practicing under probationary licenses to an inquiring member of the public, on any of the regulatory entity's documents informing the public of individual probation orders and probationary licenses, and in plain view on the licensee's profile page on the regulatory entity's online license information Internet Web site. Existing law, the Osteopathic Act, establishes the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, which issues certificates to, and regulates, osteopathic physicians and surgeons and requires that the powers and duties of the board in that regard be subject to review by the appropriate committees of the Legislature. Existing law requires that review to be performed as if those provisions were scheduled to be repealed as of January 1, 2018. This bill would instead require that review to be performed as if those provisions were scheduled to be repealed as of January 1, 2022. Existing law requires the Osteopathic Medical Board of California to require each licensed osteopathic physician and surgeon to demonstrate satisfaction of continuing education requirements as a condition for the renewal of a license at intervals of not less than one year nor more than 3 years. Existing law requires the board to require each licensed osteopathic physician and surgeon to complete a minimum of 150 hours of American Osteopathic Association continuing education hours during each 3-year cycle, of which 60 hours must be completed in American Osteopathic Association Category 1 continuing education hours as a condition for renewal of an active license. This bill would instead require the board to require satisfaction of the continuing education requirements not less than one year nor more than 2 years. The bill would require each licensed osteopathic physician and surgeon to complete a minimum of 100 hours of American Osteopathic Association continuing education hours during each 2-year cycle, of which 40 hours must be completed in American Osteopathic Association Category 1 continuing education hours and the remaining 60 hours shall be either American Osteopathic Association or American Medical Association accredited. Existing law authorizes a list of specified boards to request and receive from a local or state agency certified records of all arrests and convictions, certified records regarding probation, and any and all other documentation needed to complete an applicant or licensee investigation. This bill would add the California Board of Podiatric Medicine and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California to that list of specified boards. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions. This bill would make findings and declarations regarding the authority of healing arts boards to adopt regulations, as specified, and would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would prioritize patients and protection of the public from harm by authorizing the Medical Board of California to take swift and necessary action for a physician and surgeon's continued failure to comply with a specified order. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 146 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 1706 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1706 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2472 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 1153 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1153 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.