Amended  IN  Assembly  March 11, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1394

Introduced by Assembly Member Irwin

February 19, 2021

An act to amend Sections 1233.5 and 1259.5 of add Division 1.7 (commencing with Section 1199) to the Health and Safety Code, relating to health facilities.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1394, as amended, Irwin. Health facilities: spousal or partner abuse screening. General acute care hospitals: suicide screening.
Existing law licenses and regulates general acute care hospitals as a type of health facility having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that provides 24-hour inpatient care that includes medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. Existing law establishes the Office of Suicide Prevention upon appropriation of funds for those purposes.
This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2023, a general acute care hospital to establish and adopt written policies and procedures to screen patients who are 12 to 24 years of age, inclusive, for purposes of detecting a risk for suicide. The bill would require the procedures to include, among other things, a designation of the licensed staff who are responsible for the implementation of the policies and procedures. The bill would further require a general acute care hospital to routinely screen patients who are 12 to 24 years of age, inclusive, for a risk of suicide in compliance with the policies and procedures.

Existing law requires the board of directors and the medical director of a licensed clinic, and certain types of hospitals, to have written policies and procedures to screen patients for the purpose of detecting spousal or partner abuse.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Division 1.7 (commencing with Section 1199) is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

DIVISION 1.7. Suicide Screening

1199.
 (a) On or before January 1, 2023, a general acute care hospital shall establish and adopt written policies and procedures to screen patients who are 12 to 24 years of age, inclusive, for purposes of detecting a risk for suicide.
(b) The procedures established pursuant to this section shall accomplish all of the following:
(1) Identify, as part of a medical screening, a patient’s risk for suicide.
(2) Document in the medical record a patient’s risk for suicide.
(3) Provide to a patient who exhibits any sign of a risk for suicide a current referral list of private and public community agencies that provide, or arrange for, the evaluation, counseling, and care of persons experiencing a risk of suicide, including, but not limited to, hotlines and locally available mental health services.
(4) Designate the licensed staff to be responsible for the implementation of these policies and procedures.
(c) After the adoption of written policies and procedures pursuant to subdivision (a), a general acute care hospital shall routinely screen patients who are 12 to 24 years of age, inclusive, for a risk of suicide in compliance with those policies and procedures.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that a general acute care hospital, for purposes of satisfying the requirements of this section, adopt guidelines similar to those developed by the National Institute for Mental Health regarding screening for suicide risk. The Legislature recognizes that while guidelines evolve and change, the guidelines by the National Institute for Mental Health may serve, at this time, as a model to follow.

SECTION 1.Section 1233.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
1233.5.

(a)By June 30, 1995, the board of directors and the medical director of a licensed clinic shall establish and adopt written policies and procedures to screen patients for the purpose of detecting spousal or partner abuse. The policies shall include procedures to accomplish all of the following:

(1)Identifying, as part of the clinic’s medical screening, spousal or partner abuse among patients.

(2)Documenting in a patient’s medical record injuries or illnesses attributable to spousal or partner abuse.

(3)Providing to patients who exhibit signs of spousal or partner abuse a current referral list of private and public community agencies that provide, or arrange for, the evaluation, counseling, and care of persons experiencing spousal or partner abuse, including, but not limited to, hotlines, local battered women’s shelters, legal services, and information about temporary restraining orders.

(4)Designating licensed clinical staff to be responsible for the implementation of these guidelines.

(b)It is the intent of the Legislature that clinics, for purposes of satisfying the requirements of this section, adopt guidelines similar to those developed by the American Medical Association regarding domestic violence detection and referral. The Legislature recognizes that while guidelines evolve and change, the American Medical Association’s guidelines may serve, at this time, as a model for clinics to follow.

SEC. 2.Section 1259.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
1259.5.

By January 1, 1995, each general acute care hospital, acute psychiatric hospital, special hospital, psychiatric health facility, and chemical dependency recovery hospital shall establish written policies and procedures to routinely screen patients for the purpose of detecting spousal or partner abuse. The policies shall include guidelines on all of the following:

(a) Identifying, through routine screening, spousal or partner abuse among patients.

(b) Documenting patient injuries or illnesses attributable to spousal or partner abuse.

(c) Educating appropriate hospital staff about the criteria for identifying, and the procedures for handling, patients whose injuries or illnesses are attributable to spousal or partner abuse.

(d) Advising patients who exhibit signs of spousal or partner abuse of crisis intervention services that are available either through the hospital facility or through community-based crisis intervention and counseling services.

(e) Providing to patients who exhibit signs of spousal or partner abuse information on domestic violence and a referral list, to be updated periodically, of private and public community agencies that provide, or arrange for, evaluation of and care for persons experiencing spousal or partner abuse, including, but not limited to, hotlines, local battered women’s shelters, legal services, and information about temporary restraining orders.