Title HSC — California Health & Safety Code

(a) The Legislature hereby declares it to be the policy of the state to prevent overconcentrations of intermediate care facilities/development ally disabled habilitative, intermediate care facilities/developmentally disabled-nursing, congregate living health facilities, or pediat…

(a) Upon the filing of the application for licensure or for a special permit for special services and full compliance with this chapter and the rules and regulations of the state department, the state department shall issue to the applicant the license or special permit applied f…

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 1268 requiring full compliance with this chapter and the rules and regulations of the state department as a condition to the issuance of a license or special permit, the state department may issue a provisional license to a health fac…

(a) Commencing October 1, 2011, as a requirement of initial licensure of an intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-habilitative or an intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing, the applicant or designee of the applicant shall attend a sixteen-hour o…

Immediately upon the denial of any application for a license or for a special permit for special services, the state department shall notify the applicant in writing. Within 20 days after the state department mails the notice, the applicant may present his written petition for a …

The provisions of this chapter do not apply to the following institutions: (a) Any facility conducted by and for the adherents of any well-recognized church or religious denomination for the purpose of providing facilities for the care or treatment of the sick who depend upon pra…

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that uniform orientation and training are fundamental to ensuring a high level of competency of state personnel charged with enforcing state law regulating the licensure, certification, and inspection of long-term health care facilities. (b)…

(a) A health facility may place up to 50 percent of its licensed bed capacity in voluntary suspension for a period not exceeding three years, upon submitting written notification to the state department and to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. However, this…

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, including, but not limited to, Section 1271.1, a health facility may do any of the following: (1) (A) It may place all or a portion of its licensed bed capacity in voluntary suspension for the purposes of using the facilit…

(a) If a general acute care hospital or an acute psychiatric hospital submits a written application to the department’s centralized applications unit, the department shall do both of the following: (1) Complete its evaluation and approve or deny the application within 100 days of…

Members of the committee shall serve without compensation, but shall receive the current per diem, subsistence, and travel reimbursement paid to state managers, supervisors, and confidential employees for expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Private not-for-profit hospitals meet certain needs of their communities through the provision of essential health care and other services. Public recognition of their unique status has led to favorable tax treatment by…

As used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) “Charity care” means free health services provided without expectation of payment to persons who meet the organization’s criteria for financial assistance and are unable to pay for all or a portion of t…

(a) The Department of Healthcare Access and Information may impose a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) on hospitals for failure to adopt, update, or submit community benefit plans consistent with Section 127350. (b) The department may grant a hospital an automatic…

Each hospital shall do all of the following: (a) By July 1, 1995, reaffirm its mission statement that requires its policies integrate and reflect the public interest in meeting its responsibilities as a not-for-profit organization. (b) By January 1, 1996, complete, either alone, …

The hospital shall include all of the following elements in its community benefits plan: (a) Mechanisms to evaluate the plan’s effectiveness including, but not limited to, a method for soliciting the views of the community served by the hospital and identification of community gr…

Nothing in this article shall be used to justify the tax-exempt status of a hospital under state law. Nothing in this article shall preclude the department from requiring hospitals to directly report their charity activities.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The COVID-19 health emergency has thrown into sharp relief longstanding health inequities along racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people have been disproportionately affected durin…

As used in this article: (a) “Advisory committee” means the Health Care Equity Measures Advisory Committee established pursuant to Section 127376. (b) “Disparity reduction” means a reduction in variation in disease occurrence, including communicable diseases and chronic condition…

(a) A hospital shall prepare an annual equity report. The equity report shall include an analysis of health status and access to care disparities for patients on the basis of age, sex, race, ethnicity, language, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and payor. (…

(a) A hospital shall do all of the following with respect to an equity report prepared pursuant to Section 127372: (1) Include in the equity report an explanation of the methodology used, written in plain English. (2) Annually submit the equity report to the Department of Health …

(a) The Department of Health Care Access and Information may impose a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) against a hospital that fails to adopt, update, or submit an equity report consistent with this article and any implementing regulations adopted by the departme…

The Department of Health Care Access and Information shall adopt any rules, regulations, or informal guidance necessary to further the objectives of this article.

(a) The Department of Health Care Access and Information shall convene a Health Care Equity Measures Advisory Committee, composed of at least one academic health care quality and measurement expert and at least six stakeholder representatives, including at least one representativ…

The committee shall meet on call of the director but no less than one time per year.

(a) (1) The department shall adopt, amend, or repeal, in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13, any reasonable rules and regula…

(a) Notwithstanding any rules or regulations governing other health facilities, the regulations developed by the State Department of Health Care Services, or a predecessor, for psychiatric health facilities shall prevail. The regulations applying to psychiatric health facilities …

(a) Notwithstanding any rules or regulations governing other health facilities, the regulations adopted by the state department for chemical dependency recovery hospitals shall prevail. The regulations applying to chemical dependency recovery hospitals shall prescribe standards o…

(a) The State Department of Public Health and the State Department of Developmental Services shall jointly develop and implement licensing regulations appropriate for an intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing and an intermediate care facility/developmentally …

(a) On or before January 1, 2017, each skilled nursing facility, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 1250, shall adopt and implement an antimicrobial stewardship policy that is consistent with antimicrobial stewardship guidelines developed by the federal Centers for Disease …

(a) (1) In the event of a declared emergency related to a communicable disease, a skilled nursing facility, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 1250, shall report communicable disease data in a format and schedule as required by the State Department of Public Health. (2) The…

(a) The regulations relating to the licensing of hospitals, heretofore adopted by the State Department of Public Health pursuant to former Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1400) of Division 2, and in effect immediately prior to July 1, 1973, shall remain in effect and shall be …

(a) A health facility licensed pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 1250 may provide in any alternative setting health care services and programs which may be provided by any other provider of health care outside of a hospital building or which are not otherwise specific…

(a) The Legislature makes the following findings and declarations: (1) The theft of newborn babies from hospitals is a serious societal problem that must be addressed. (2) There is no statutory requirement that hospitals offering maternity services establish policies and procedur…

(a) On or before January 1, 2020, each general acute care hospital, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250, and acute psychiatric hospital, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1250, shall adopt and implement a linen laundry processing policy that is consistent and in …

(a) A general acute care hospital shall inform a patient or the patient’s representative, at the time of admission or as soon as reasonably possible in cases of patient incapacity or an emergency treatment circumstance, that the patient may restrict or prohibit the use or disclos…

(a) The building standards published in the California Building Standards Code by the Department of Health Care Access and Information, and the regulations adopted by the State Department of Public Health shall, as applicable, prescribe standards of adequacy, safety, and sanitati…

(a) The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development shall allow any general acute care hospital facility that needs to relocate services on an interim basis as part of its approval plan for compliance with Article 8 (commencing with Section 130000) or Article 9 (commencin…

In setting personnel standards for licensed health facilities pursuant to Section 1276, the department may set such standards itself or may adopt them by reference to named standard-setting organizations. If the department adopts standards for a category of health personnel by re…

Standards and regulations adopted by the state department pursuant to Section 1276 shall not require the use of a registered nurse for the performance of any service or staffing of any position in freestanding skilled nursing facilities that may lawfully be performed or staffed b…

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the citizens of California are in danger of being injured and killed in the state’s surgical suites and procedural rooms in licensed health facilities, because of the many intense heat sources present in an oxygen-rich environment. It i…

(a) By January 1, 2002, the State Department of Public Health shall adopt regulations that establish minimum, specific, and numerical licensed nurse-to-patient ratios by licensed nurse classification and by hospital unit for all health facilities licensed pursuant to subdivision …

(a) The department shall adopt regulations setting forth the minimum number of equivalent nursing hours per patient required in skilled nursing and intermediate care facilities, subject to the specific requirements of Section 14110.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. However,…

Each facility shall certify, under penalty of perjury and to the best of their knowledge, on a form provided by the department, that funds received pursuant to increasing the staffing ratio to 3.2, as provided for in Section 1276.5, were expended for this purpose. The facility sh…

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply: (1) “Direct care service hours” means the actual hours of work performed per patient day by a direct caregiver, as defined in paragraph (2). Until final regulations are promulgated to implement this section …

(a) (1) The Skilled Nursing Facility Minimum Staffing Penalty Account is hereby established in the State Treasury. The account shall contain all moneys deposited pursuant to subdivision (b). (2) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code or any other law, the Skilled Nu…

(a) (1) On or before May 1, 2001, the department shall determine the need, and provide subsequent recommendations, for any increase in the minimum number of nursing hours per patient day in skilled nursing facilities. The department shall analyze the relationship between staffing…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including, but not limited to, Section 1276, the following shall apply: (a) As used in this code, “respiratory care practitioner,” “respiratory therapist,” “respiratory therapy technician,” and “inhalation therapist” mean a respiratory …

(a) A special treatment program service unit distinct part shall have a minimum 2.3 nursing hours per patient per day. (b) For purposes of this section, “special treatment program service unit distinct part” means an identifiable and physically separate unit of a skilled nursing …

(a) No license shall be issued by the department unless it finds that the premises, the management, the bylaws, rules and regulations, the equipment, the staffing, both professional and nonprofessional, and the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate, and that…