BILL NUMBER: AB 809 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 19, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 7, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 19, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Logue
(Coauthor: Senator Galgiani)
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to amend Section 2290.5 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to telehealth, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 809, Logue. Healing arts: telehealth.
Existing law requires a health care provider, as defined, prior to
the delivery of health care services via telehealth, as defined, to
verbally inform the patient that telehealth may be used and obtain
verbal consent from the patient for this use. Existing law also
provides that failure to comply with this requirement constitutes
unprofessional conduct.
This bill would require the health care provider initiating the
use of telehealth to obtain verbal or written consent from the
patient for the use of telehealth, as specified. The bill would
require that health care provider to document the consent.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 2290.5 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
2290.5. (a) For purposes of this division, the following
definitions shall apply:
(1) "Asynchronous store and forward" means the transmission of a
patient's medical information from an originating site to the health
care provider at a distant site without the presence of the patient.
(2) "Distant site" means a site where a health care provider who
provides health care services is located while providing these
services via a telecommunications system.
(3) "Health care provider" means a person who is licensed under
this division.
(4) "Originating site" means a site where a patient is located at
the time health care services are provided via a telecommunications
system or where the asynchronous store and forward service
originates.
(5) "Synchronous interaction" means a real-time interaction
between a patient and a health care provider located at a distant
site.
(6) "Telehealth" means the mode of delivering health care services
and public health via information and communication technologies to
facilitate the diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care
management, and self-management of a patient's health care while the
patient is at the originating site and the health care provider is at
a distant site. Telehealth facilitates patient self-management and
caregiver support for patients and includes synchronous interactions
and asynchronous store and forward transfers.
(b) Prior to the delivery of health care via telehealth, the
health care provider initiating the use of telehealth shall inform
the patient about the use of telehealth and obtain verbal or written
consent from the patient for the use of telehealth as an acceptable
mode of delivering health care services and public health. The
consent shall be documented.
(c) Nothing in this section shall preclude a patient from
receiving in-person health care delivery services during a specified
course of health care and treatment after agreeing to receive
services via telehealth.
(d) The failure of a health care provider to comply with this
section shall constitute unprofessional conduct. Section 2314 shall
not apply to this section.
(e) This section shall not be construed to alter the scope of
practice of any health care provider or authorize the delivery of
health care services in a setting, or in a manner, not otherwise
authorized by law.
(f) All laws regarding the confidentiality of health care
information and a patient's rights to his or her medical information
shall apply to telehealth interactions.
(g) This section shall not apply to a patient under the
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or
any other correctional facility.
(h) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and for
purposes of this section, the governing body of the hospital whose
patients are receiving the telehealth services may grant privileges
to, and verify and approve credentials for, providers of telehealth
services based on its medical staff recommendations that rely on
information provided by the distant-site hospital or telehealth
entity, as described in Sections 482.12, 482.22, and 485.616 of Title
42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) By enacting this subdivision, it is the intent of the
Legislature to authorize a hospital to grant privileges to, and
verify and approve credentials for, providers of telehealth services
as described in paragraph (1).
(3) For the purposes of this subdivision, "telehealth" shall
include "telemedicine" as the term is referenced in Sections 482.12,
482.22, and 485.616 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to protect the health and safety of the public due to a
lack of access to health care providers in rural and urban medically
underserved areas of California, the increasing strain on existing
providers that occurred with the implementation of the federal
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the assistance that
further implementation of telehealth can provide to help relieve
these burdens, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.