CalDerm Legislative & Regulatory Issues - Archive
California Society of Dermatology & Dermatology Surgery
2009 Year End Legislative Report
Status: Vetoed by the Governor
AB 583 by Assembly Business and Professions Committee Chair Mary Hayashi. Co-sponsored by the California Medical Association (CMA) and plastic surgeons, this is a disclosure bill aimed at the medi-spas. The bill requires physicians to prominently display their level of education as well as their specialty board or association. It also requires a physician who supervises an office in addition to their primary office to post at each office the hours they are present. CalDerm supported this bill.
Status: Placed on the Senate Inactive File. Sponsors decided not to send it to the Governor’s desk because the Department of Consumer Affairs was opposed, thus a veto was likely.
AB 832 by Assembly Health Committee Chairman Dave Jones. This bill would have required physician-owned surgical clinics to comply with the Department of Public Health’s (DPH) burdensome regulatory requirements – including onerous building standards that are meant to apply to hospitals.
Status: Language removed in Assembly Health Committee. Turned into a study bill that CalDerm supported which was subsequently killed in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1116 by Assembly Member Wilma Carter. This bill was sponsored by the family of Donda West, mother of music celebrity, Kanye West. The bill requires “appropriate” history and a physical 30 days prior to cosmetic surgery and on the day of the surgery. CalDerm amended the bill to clarify that the “appropriate” history and physical can be done on the day of the procedure.
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 294 by Senate Business and Professions Chair Gloria Negrete-McLeod. Originally, this bill was a major expansion of scope of practice for nurse practitioners. The bill narrowed dramatically throughout its course so that CMA and CalDerm were no longer opposed.
Status: In Assembly Business and Professions Committee. The bill was sent there after substantial amendments made to the bill relating to enforcement programs at the Healing Arts Board.
SB 674 by Senate Business and Professions Committee Chair Gloria Negrete-McLeod. This was an omnibus bill that included a requirement that physicians wear a badge (since removed due to CalDerm opposition). The bill also included a provision that mandated the Medical Board of California promulgate regulations on “appropriate level of physician availability” at clinics using laser for cosmetic surgery.” In anticipation of passage of this bill, MBC had already invited CalDerm to be part of a task force on these proposed regulations. And the bill placed into statute some requirements for agencies that accredit physician surgical clinics (known as outpatient settings).
Status: Vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, the Governor essentially brought up the issue of AB 832. Note that he makes it clear that the issue will be back next year:
While some provisions may provide marginal improvements to consumer protection, I cannot support this bill when it fails to address the need for stronger licensing and oversight of outpatient surgical centers. The continued reliance by the medical community on external accreditation agencies without enforcement capability is an insufficient solution for protecting patients. As outpatient surgeries continue to increase in number and complexity, surgical centers cannot continue to perform procedures in an unregulated and unenforced environment.
I would ask the medical community to work with my Administration next year to bring consistent and effective oversight to this growing industry in the shared interest of protecting patient safety.
SB 744 by Senate Health Committee Vice Chair Tony Strickland. This bill was sponsored by the Department of Public Health. It increases the funding for state regulation of labs by raising fees on the larger labs although it reduces fees paid by physician owned labs (POL’s). For example, according to the DPH website, the renewal fee for a license is $952 for all labs today. SB 744 would change the fee to $170 for labs that perform less than 2001 tests a year and $720 for those doing between 2001 and 10,000 tests a year.
Status: Signed into law by the Governor. CalDerm received the following assurances on the bill: 1) Some POLs today do not pay a state fee if they were in operation prior to 1996. In response to a question by CalDerm, DPH says that SB 744 will not change that policy – pre-96 POL’s will still be exempt. 2) Members have also raised concerns about possible changes in proficiency testing methods. Again, in response to a CalDerm query, the department says that the bill will not affect any of the current proficiency test methods employed by dermatologists.