SB 464

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to maintain a program of maternal and child health, which may include, among other things, facilitating services directed toward reducing infant mortality and improving the health of mothers and children. Existing law requires the Office of Health Equity within the department to serve as a resource for ensuring that programs collect and keep data and information regarding ethnic and racial health statistics, and strategies and programs that address multicultural health issues, including, but not limited to, infant and maternal mortality. This bill would make legislative findings relating to implicit bias and racial disparities in maternal mortality rates. The bill would require a hospital that provides perinatal care, and an alternative birth center or a primary clinic that provides services as an alternative birth center, to implement an evidence-based implicit bias program, as specified, for all health care providers involved in perinatal care of patients within those facilities. The bill would require the health care provider to complete initial basic training through the program and a refresher course every 2 years thereafter, or on a more frequent basis if deemed necessary by the facility. The bill would require the facility to provide a certificate of training completion upon request, to accept certificates of completion from other facilities, and to offer training to physicians not directly employed by the facility. The bill would require the department to track and publish data on pregnancy-related death and severe maternal morbidity, as specified. (2) Existing law requires that each death be registered with the local registrar of births and deaths in the district in which the death was officially pronounced or the body was found. Existing law sets forth the persons responsible for completing the certificate of death and requires certain medical and health content on the certificate, including information indicating whether the decedent was pregnant at the time of death or within the year prior to the death, if known. Certain violations of these requirements are a crime. This bill would require the certificate to indicate additional information regarding the pregnancy status of the decedent, as specified. By changing the definition of existing crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires hospitals to provide specified information regarding patient's rights to each patient upon admission or as soon thereafter as reasonably practical, including, among other things, information about the right to be informed of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital. Existing law makes violations of these requirements a crime. This bill would require the hospital to additionally provide patients with information on the patient's right to be free of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. The bill would additionally require the hospital to provide patients with information on how to file a complaint with specified state entities. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) 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.