2025
SB-250 (Ochoa Bogh) Medi-Cal: provider directory: skilled nursing facilities
Requires, in the provider directory that lists accepted Medi-Cal managed care plans, through the Medi-Cal Managed Care Health Care Options internet website and any other applicable mechanisms, that the directory include skilled nursing facilities as one of the available searchable provider types. Requires [DHCS to] annually update that provider directory to ensure that information is accurate and readily accessible to the public.
SB-387 (Rubio) Physicians and surgeons: special faculty permits:
comprehensive cancer centers
Modifies the requirements for a National Cancer Institute-designated
comprehensive cancer center to qualify as an academic medical center by,
instead, requiring the facility to train 25 resident or fellow physicians
annually and exempting the facility from the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges accreditation requirement.
SB-403 (Blakespear) End of Life Option Act
Repeals the January 1, 2031, expiration date
of the act, thereby extending the operation of the act indefinitely.
SB-590 (Durazo) Paid family
leave: eligibility: care for designated persons
Commencing July 1, 2027, expands eligibility for benefits under the paid family leave
program to include individuals who take time off work to care for a seriously
ill designated person; defines "designated
person" to mean any individual
related by blood or whose association with the claimant is the
equivalent of a family relationship; authorizes the claimant to identify the designated person when they
file a claim for benefits.
AB-489 (Bonta) Health care professions: deceptive terms or letters:
artificial intelligence
Prohibits the use by AI technology of certain terms, letters, or
phrases that indicate or imply that the advice or care being provided through
AI is being provided by a natural person with the appropriated health care
license or certificate.
AB-583 (Pellerin) Death certificates
Commencing July 1, 2026, authorizes the medical and health
section data and the time of death on a death certificate to be completed and
attested to by a licensed nurse practitioner in the case where a patient is in
a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility [AND] adds NPs to individuals required to notify the coroner when they have knowledge of a death
under certain specified circumstances [AND] adds NPs to those provisions [in existing law related to death
certificates for a fetal death] for purposes of preparing and depositing or
delivering a certificate of fetal death [AND] authorizes an NP to use [a specified] procedure to file a
declaration to amend a record of death, fetal death, or live birth.
AB-960 (Pellerin) Patient visitation
Requires, with limited exceptions, a general acute care hospital to allow a patient with physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, a patient with cognitive impairment, including dementia, and a patient with another disability, as specified, to have a family or friend caregiver with them as needed, including outside standard visiting hours, unless specified conditions are met.
2024
AB 1005 (Alvarez) In-home Supportive Services: Terminal Illness Diagnosis
Requires that a Medi-Cal beneficiary diagnosed with a terminal illness be provided with certain information about the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, by the hospital discharge planner or case manager, prior to being discharged from a hospital, and communicate the beneficiary's interest in receiving IHSS to their primary care physician to support timely completion of an application.
SB 639 (Limón) Medical Professionals: Course Requirements
Amends the Medical Practice Act: All general internists and family physicians who have a patient population of which over 25% are 65 years of age or older shall complete at least 20% of all mandatory continuing education hours in a course in the field of geriatric medicine, the special care needs of patients with dementia, or the care of older patients. Also requires nurse practitioners who provide primary care to a patient population of which over 25% are 65 years of age or older to certify that they have completed at least 20% of all existing mandatory continuing education hours in a course in the field of gerontology, the special care needs of patients with dementia, or the care of older patients at the time of renewal. In establishing standards for continuing education, the [nursing] board shall consider including a course in the special care needs of individuals and their families, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (1) Pain and symptom management, including palliative care. (2) The psychosocial dynamics of death. (3) Dying and bereavement. (4) Hospice care. New requirements for education for nurses include 1 hour of direct participation in an implicit bias course offered by a continuing education provider approved by the board. Any nurse practitioner who provides primary care to a patient population of which over 25% are 65 years of age or older shall certify that they have completed at least 20% of all existing mandatory CE hours in a course in the field of gerontology, the special care needs of patients with dementia, or the care of older patients at the time of renewal. Same for physician assistants.
2023
SB 696 (Portantino) Notaries Public – Remote, Online Notarization
This bill establishes a framework for licensed California notaries to conduct remote online notarizations, including provisions for the licensure of remote online notarization platforms by the Secretary of State and requirements relating to data security and privacy in online notarial transactions.
AB 48 (Aguiar-Curry) Nursing Facility Resident Informed Consent Protection Act of 2023
Existing law requires skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities to have written policies regarding the rights of patients. This bill adds to these rights the right of every resident to receive the information that is material to an individual’s informed consent decision concerning whether to accept or refuse the administration of psychotherapeutic drugs, as specified. This bill also adds the right to be free from psychotherapeutic drugs used for the purpose of resident discipline, convenience, or chemical restraint, except in an emergency that threatens to cause immediate injury to the resident or others.
AB 847 (Luz Rivas) Medi-Cal: Pediatric Palliative Care Services
The State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) established the Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) Waiver in 2009, upon receiving federal approval in December 2008. After the PPC Waiver ended on December 31, 2018, DHCS implemented a plan in 2019 to transition some PPC services to the Early and Periodic, Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit, which is available to Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age. This bill extends eligibility for PPC services for those individuals who have been determined eligible for those services prior to 21 years of age until 26 years of age and would extend eligibility for hospice services after 21 years of age. To the extent that these provisions would alter the eligibility of individuals for these services, the bill creates a state-mandated local program. The bill implements these provisions only to the extent that necessary federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is not otherwise jeopardized.
AB 1029 (Pellerin) Advance Health Care Directive Form
Existing law establishes the requirements for executing a written advance health care directive that is legally sufficient to direct health care decisions. This bill clarifies that a “health care decision” does not include consent by a patient’s agent, conservator, or surrogate to convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, or abortion. The bill confirms that a voluntary, standalone Psychiatric Advance Directive may still be executed and amends the statutory advance health care directive form that the individual’s agent may not consent to placement in a mental health facility, or consent to convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, or abortion for the individual. Amendments: Added language that defines “psychiatric advance directive” as a legal document, executed on a voluntary basis by a person who has the capacity to make medical decisions and in accordance with the requirements for an advance health care directive, that allows a person with mental illness to protect their autonomy and ability to direct their own care by documenting their preferences for treatment in advance of a mental health crisis.
AB 1697 (Schiavo) Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
Amend California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act and Uniform Electronic Transactions Act to permit the use of electronic signatures to authorize the sharing of certain medical information. Adds flexibility to authorizations for release of medical information by allowing them to expire when a specified event occurs (rather than on a specified date), and allowing non-electronic authorizations to be handwritten by persons other than the signatory (thereby assisting persons with certain disabilities). Committee amendments added appropriate safeguards, borrowed from federal law, for the use of expiration events as opposed to expiration dates, on such authorizations.
RN 23 09482; AB 118 (Committee on Budget) Health Omnibus | California POLST eRegistry Act
Existing law requires the Secretary of State to maintain an Advance Health Care Directive Registry through which a person may register information regarding their advance directive in a central information center. The California POLST eRegistry Act requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) to establish a statewide electronic POLST registry system to collect a patient’s POLST information and disseminate that information to an authorized user. Existing law requires EMSA to incorporate the Advance Health Care Directive Registry into the POLST eRegistry. AB 118, the health omnibus trailer bill (specifically paragraph (27)), amended Health & Safety Code §1862 to delete the requirement that EMSA incorporate the Advance Health Care Directive Registry into the POLST eRegistry. An agreement was made that the adoption of the trailer bill to remove the requirement to integrate the Directive (AHCD) Registry into the POLST Registry entailed the understanding that EMSA will modify the POLST to allow people to indicate if they have filed their AHCD with the Secretary of State.
2022
AB 2288 (Choi) Advance Directive & Mental Health Treatment
Existing law, the Health Care Decisions Law, authorizes an adult having capacity to give an individual health care instruction. AB 2288 clarifies that health care decisions under those provisions include mental health treatment and revises the statutory advance health care directive form to clarify that a person may include instructions relating to mental health treatment.
AB 2338 (Gipson) Healthcare Decision-Maker Hierarcy
This bill clarifies that if an adult patient lacks the capacity to make health care decisions, the following legally recognized health care decisionmakers may make health care decisions on the patient's behalf, in the following descending order of priority: a) The patient's surrogate chosen by the patient as provided; b) The patient's agent pursuant to an advance health care directive or a power of attorney for health care; c) The conservator or guardian.
If an adult patient lacks the capacity to make a health care decision, but does not have one of the above health care decisionmakers, a surrogate may be chosen from any of the following persons: The spouse or domestic partner of the patient; An adult child of the patient; A parent of the patient; An adult sibling of the patient; An adult grandchild of the patient; An adult relative or close personal friend.
SB 1139 (Kamlager) Prison Visitation (serious illness)
This bill requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to make changes in policy related to prisoners who have been hospitalized due to a serious or critical medical condition, including making emergency phone calls available, providing support for a completing medical power of attorney and other forms, informing persons covered by the medical release of information form of the prisoner's health status, and visitation.
2021
SB 129 (Skinner): Budget Act of 2021
This budget includes a $10 million appropriation for the California Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) to develop a POLST eRegistry in consultation with the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California (CCCC) and other stakeholders. In addition to the one-time allocation of $10 million for the POLST registry, the budget trailer bill (AB 133) included an additional $750,000 per year in ongoing spending to strengthen the POLST ecosystem and prepare patients and providers for the future registry.
SB 353 (Roth): Extends Hospice Palliative Care
Extends SB 294 to January 1, 2025. SB 294 (2017) authorizes a licensed hospice to provide palliative care services concurrently with curative treatment to a person who does not have a terminal prognosis or who has not elected to receive hospice services only by licensed and certified hospices.
SB 380 (Eggman) End of Life Option Act Update
Makes significant changes to California’s End of Life Option Act (EoLOA), including reducing the required waiting period between a patient’s oral requests from 15 days to 48 hours. The changes go into effect on January 1, 2022.
2019
AB 528 (Low): Controlled substances: CURES database
Makes changes to the Controlled Substances Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES). Includes exemption for prescriptions for the terminally ill: “(5) If a health care practitioner prescribes, orders, administers, or furnishes a controlled substance to a patient, who is terminally ill, as defined in. subdivision (c) of Section 11159.2.”
AB 714 (Wood) Opioid prescription drugs: prescribers
Clarifies and narrows the application of current law requiring prescribers to offer a prescription for naloxone hydrochloride. Expressly exempts prescriptions for patients in inpatient or outpatient facilities and terminally ill patients. (Urgency clause effective immediately.)
2018
AB 282 (Jones-Sawyer) – Aiding, Advising or Encouraging Suicide: Exemption from Prosecution
Prohibits a person whose actions are compliant with the End of Life Option Act from being prosecuted for deliberately aiding, advising, or encouraging suicide.
AB 3211 (Kalra) Advance Health Care Directives – Organ Donation
Revises the form language on the Advance Health Care Directive to provide a general check-off box to allow, upon death, the donation of all organs, tissue, and body parts to be donated for purposes of transplantation, therapy, research, and education.