BILL NUMBER: AB 918 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mark Stone
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 1180.7 to the Health and Safety
Code, relating to health and care facilities. Sections
4436.5 and 4659.2 to the Welfare and Institutions Co de,
relating to developmental services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 918, as amended, Mark Stone. Health and care
facilities: seclusion and behavioral restraints.
Developmental services: reporting: seclusion and restraint.
Existing law requires the Secretary of California Health and Human
Services to develop technical assistance and training programs to
support the efforts of community care facilities, group homes,
skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, and mental
health rehabilitation centers, among others, to reduce or eliminate
the use of seclusion and behavioral restraints in these facilities.
Existing law requires specified entities within the California health
and Human Services Agency to take steps to establish a system of
mandatory, consistent, timely, and publicly accessible data
collection regarding the use of seclusion and behavioral restraints
in state hospitals operated by the State Department of State
Hospitals, facilities operated by the State Department of
Developmental Services, and other specified facilities that utilize
seclusion or behavioral restraints.
The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2017, the
secretary to take steps to establish a system of mandatory,
consistent, timely, and publicly accessible data collection regarding
the use of seclusion and behavioral restraints in additional
facilities, including adult residential facilities, that utilize
seclusion or behavioral restraints. The bill would require these
facilities to report to the protection and advocacy agency designated
by the Governor each death or serious injury of a person occurring
during, or related to, the use of seclusion or behavioral restraints.
Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities
Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services
contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to
individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires
all vendors and long-term health care facilities, as defined, to
report special incidents to a regional center, including, among other
things, physical or chemical restraint, or both. Existing law
requires a regional center that receives information from a special
incident report regarding the use of physical or chemical restraint,
or both, to report that information to the department, as specified.
This bill would require the department to ensure the consistent,
timely, and public reporting of data it receives from regional
centers regarding the use of physical or chemical restraint and to
publish that information on its Internet Web site.
This bill would also require regional center vendors that provide
residential services or supported living services and long-term
health care facilities to report each death or serious injury of a
person occurring during, or related to, the use of seclusion,
physical restraint, or chemical restraint, as specified.
This bill would make related findings and declarations.
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) The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003)
reported that the use of behavioral restraint and seclusion poses
significant risks for adults and children, including serious injury
or death, retraumatizing people with a history of trauma or abuse,
loss of dignity, and other psychological harm.
(b) Although California currently requires the tracking and public
reporting of the use of seclusion and restraint in state
developmental centers and collects data regarding the use of
restraint through the department's special incident reporting system,
the data concerning the use of restraint in community residential
and other long-term care facilities serving individuals with
developmental disabilities is not publicly reported.
(c) One of the best methods to achieve the goal of a reduction in
the use of restraint is to ensure consistent data collection and
analysis and public access to this data.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to
ensure that data regarding the use of restraint in community
residential and other long-term care facilities is publicly available
as a means of ensuring quality services to individuals with
developmental disabilities and a reduction in the use of restraint.
SEC. 2. Section 4436.5 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
4436.5. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following
definitions apply:
(1) "Physical restraint" means any behavioral or mechanical
restraint as defined in Section 1180.1 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) "Chemical restraint" means a drug that is used to control
behavior and that is used in a manner not required to treat the
patient's medical conditions.
(3) "Long-term health care facility" means a facility, as defined
in Section 1418 of the Health and Safety Code, or an acute
psychiatric hospital, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1250
of the Health and Safety Code, including an institution for mental
disease.
(b) The department shall ensure the consistent, timely, and public
reporting of data it receives from regional centers pursuant to
Section 54327 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations
regarding the use of physical restraint, chemical restraint, or both,
by all regional center vendors who provide residential services or
supported living services pursuant to Section 4689, and by long-term
health care facilities serving individuals with developmental
disabilities.
(c) The department shall publish quarterly on its Internet Web
site both of the following data, segregated by individual regional
center vendor that provides residential services or supported living
services and individual long-term health care facility that serves
persons with developmental disabilities:
(1) The number of incidents of physical restraint.
(2) The number of incidents of chemical restraint.
SEC. 3. Section 4659.2 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
4659.2. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following
definitions apply:
(1) "Physical restraint" means any behavioral or mechanical
restraint, as defined in Section 1180.1 of the Health and Safety
Code.
(2) "Chemical restraint" means a drug that is used to control
behavior and that is used in a manner not required to treat the
patient's medical conditions.
(3) "Seclusion" means involuntary confinement of a person alone in
a room or an area as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 1180.1 of
the Health and Safety Code.
(4) "Long-term health care facility" means a facility, as defined
in Section 1418 of the Health and Safety Code, or an acute
psychiatric hospital, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1250
of the Health and Safety Code, including an institution for mental
disease.
(b) All regional center vendors that provide residential services
or supported living services and long-term health care facilities
shall report each death or serious injury of a person occurring
during, or related to, the use of seclusion, physical restraint, or
chemical restraint, or any combination thereof, to the agency
designated pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 4900 no later than
the close of the business day following the death or serious injury.
The report shall include the encrypted identifier of the person
involved, and the name, street address, and telephone number of the
facility.
SECTION 1. Section 1180.7 is added to the
Health and Safety Code, to read:
1180.7. (a) This section shall apply to intermediate care
facilities, intermediate care facilities/developmentally
disabled-nursing, intermediate care facilities for the
developmentally disabled, intermediate care
facilities/developmentally disabled-habilitative, group homes, adult
residential facilities, and mental health rehabilitation centers.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (d) of Section 1180.3, on or
before January 1, 2017, the secretary or his or her designee shall
take steps to establish a system of mandatory, consistent, timely,
and publicly accessible data collection regarding the use of
seclusion and behavioral restraints in all facilities described in
subdivision (a) that utilize seclusion and behavioral restraints.
(2) Data collected pursuant to this subdivision shall include all
of the data described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) of Section
1180.2.
(c) A facility described in subdivision (a) shall report each
death or serious injury of a person occurring during, or related to,
the use of seclusion or behavioral restraints. This report shall be
made to the agency designated in subdivision (i) of Section 4900 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code no later than the close of the
business day following the death or injury. The report shall include
the encrypted identifier of the person involved, and the name, street
address, and telephone number of the facility.