MEASURE : S.B. No. 260
AUTHOR(S) : Romero (Coauthor: Senator Kuehl) (Coauthors: Assembly
Members Berg and Maze).
TOPIC : Health care.
+LAST AMENDED DATE : 06/24/2004
TYPE OF BILL :
Inactive
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
Non-State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy
LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 08/25/2004
LAST HIST. ACTION : Chaptered by Secretary of
State. Chapter 310,
Statutes of 2004.
TITLE : An act to add Section 6534 to the Government Code,
relating to health care.
MEASURE : S.B. No. 260
AUTHOR(S) : Romero (Coauthor: Senator Kuehl) (Coauthors: Assembly
Members Berg and Maze).
TOPIC : Health care.
HOUSE LOCATION : SEN
+LAST AMENDED DATE : 06/24/2004
TYPE OF BILL :
Active
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
Non-State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy
LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 08/09/2004
LAST HIST. ACTION : Action deferred pursuant to Senate
Rule 29.10. Question
referred to Com. on RLS.
FILE : SEN UNFINISHED BUSINESS
FILE DATE : 08/11/2004
ITEM : 39
TITLE : An act to add Section 6534 to the Government Code,
relating to health care.
BILL NUMBER: SB 260 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 24, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 10, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 27, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 6, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Senator Romero
(Coauthor: Senator Kuehl)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Berg and Maze)
FEBRUARY 18, 2003
An act to add Section 6534 to the Government Code, relating
to
health care.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 260, as amended, Romero. Health care.
Existing law authorizes the formation of local health
care
districts and the establishment of municipal hospitals for the
purpose of providing needed public health care services. Existing
law, the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, permits 2 or more public
agencies to enter into an agreement to jointly exercise any power
common to the contracting parties.
This bill would create the California Prison Inmate Health
Service
Reform Act and would authorize the Department of Corrections to
enter into joint powers agreements with one or more health care
districts in order to establish regional inmate health service joint
powers agencies. The bill would establish the purposes for which
inmate health service joint powers authorities may be utilized.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no.
Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California's prison inmate health care delivery system
is in a
state of disarray.
(b) The cost of inmate health care services has
increased by more
than 300 percent during the past decade, and will likely exceed
$1
billion annually by 2006, far exceeding the rate of growth
in inmate
population and the general rate of private sector health care
cost
inflation during the same period.
(c) The cost of "outsourced" health care services,
including
payments to private hospitals, is one of the fastest growing
inmate
health care cost centers. Total outsourced health care
costs have
increased at an average 15-percent annual rate during the past
decade, and will total $250 million in 2005.
(d)
(b) Health care districts operate 32 rural
public hospitals
in California. Many of these hospitals are located within 10
miles
of a state prison facility, and are able to provide all necessary
health care services for the majority of prison inmates.
(e)
(c) California prison administrators frequently
bypass
health care district hospitals when seeking care for inmates, in
favor of more distant and costly private
preferred hospitals.
(f)
(d) Health care districts operate public
hospitals that
provide more than 50 percent of all hospital care in rural
California.
(g)
(e) California's rural district hospitals
have struggled for
financial survival for more than the past 10 years, posting net
operating losses of more than $22,000,000 in 2002 according to the
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
(h)
(f) More extensive utilization of the rural
public hospitals
operated by health care districts for delivery of inmate health
services leverages state inmate health care dollars to maximum effect
ensuring the long-term survival of the state's rural health safety
net while helping to reduce state General Fund expenditures for
inmate health care.
(i)
(g) Health care district management expertise
could
significantly improve prison health facility management, health care
utilization review, quality of health care review, and health care
staff recruitment. This assistance would assist Department of
Corrections staff in improving health care quality, access, and cost
containment.
(j)
(h) More effective utilization of health
care district
hospitals could reduce the cost of outsourced inmate care by at least
$20,000,000 annually, improve the quality of inmate health care, and
improve the overall management of California's prison health care
system.
(k)
(i) It is in the best interests of California's
prison
inmates, the State of California, and California's rural health
safety net, that the Department of Corrections and health care
districts form regional joint powers agencies to provide, arrange
for, and assist in the provision of health care services to
California prison inmates.
SEC. 2. Section 6534 is added to the Government Code,
to read:
6534. (a) This section shall be known, and may be
cited, as the
California Prison Inmate Health Service Reform Act.
(b) The Department of Corrections may enter into joint
powers
agreements under this chapter with one or more health care districts
established in accordance with Division 23 (commencing with Section
32000) of the Health and Safety Code, in order to establish regional
inmate health service joint powers agencies.
(c) Inmate health service joint powers authorities may
be utilized
for any purpose related to the provision, acquisition, or
coordination of inmate health care services, including, but not
limited to, all of the following:
(1) The provision of district hospital-based surgical,
diagnostic,
emergency, trauma, acute care, skilled nursing, long-term, and
inpatient psychiatric care.
(2) Health care utilization review services.
(3) Health facility management consultation services.
(4) Health care contract design, negotiation, management,
and
related consultation services.
(5) Health care quality monitoring, management, and oversight
consulting services.
(6) Physician and health care staff recruitment services.
(7) The design, construction, and operation of dedicated,
secure,
community-based health care facilities for the provision of inmate
health care services.