Healthcare (Emergency Management)

Existing law, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency to establish within its jurisdiction a basic emergency telephone system that includes, at a minimum, police, firefighting, and emergency medical and ambulance services. Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and requires the office to be responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services, as specified. Existing law requires the office, at specified intervals, to consult with, among others, the State Fire Marshal and the State Department of Public Health in order to review and update technical and operational standards for public agency systems. Existing law requires a public safety agency that provides "911" call processing services for emergency medical response to, by January 1, 2027, provide prearrival medical instructions to "911" callers requiring medical assistance, as specified. This bill would require a public safety agency described above that was not providing prearrival instructions to the "911" callers described above on or before January 1, 2027, to report to their local emergency medical services agency the status of their compliance with the above-described requirement on or before January 31, 2027.

Existing law establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) in the California Health and Human Services Agency to establish planning and implementation guidelines for emergency medical service systems, as specified. The guidelines are required to address, among other things, disaster response, and the authority is required to provide technical assistance to existing agencies, counties, and cities for the purpose of developing the components of emergency medical services systems. The EMSA is required to adopt rules and regulations, approved by the Commission on Emergency Medical Services, in order to carry out its duties. Existing law ratifies, approves, and sets forth the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an interstate agreement that provides for mutual assistance between states responding to emergencies and disasters. Under the compact, a person who holds a professional license, certificate, or other permit issued by a state party to the compact is deemed licensed, certified, or permitted by a state requesting assistance to render aid involving that skill to meet a declared emergency or disaster, as specified. Existing federal law establishes the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) program to support states and territories in establishing volunteer registration programs for disasters and public health and medical emergencies. Pursuant to the ESAR-VHP program, the EMSA established the Disaster Healthcare Volunteers program to register volunteers in California. Existing federal law also establishes the Medical Reserve Corps to provide for an adequate supply of volunteers in the case of a federal, state, local, or tribal public health emergency, as specified. This bill would enact the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act, which would authorize the establishment of additional volunteer registration systems by additional entities. In this regard, the bill would require a registration system to be an ESAR-VHP program or a local unit of the Medical Reserve Corps, as specified, to be designated by the EMSA as a registration system, or to be operated by one of specified types of entities, including, among others, a disaster relief organization, as defined. The bill would require that a registration system be capable of supplying the EMSA with sufficient information concerning whether a volunteer is licensed to provide specified health or veterinary services in another state or territory of the United States and in good standing before that volunteer provides those services in this state while an emergency declaration is in effect, as specified. The bill would establish scope-of-practice standards for a registered volunteer health practitioner. The bill would authorize the EMSA to limit, restrict, or otherwise regulate, among other things, the duration of practice, the geographical areas in which volunteer health practitioners may practice, and any other matters necessary to coordinate the provision of health or veterinary services during the emergency. The bill would authorize the applicable licensing board and the host entity, as defined, to restrict or modify the health or veterinary services that a volunteer health practitioner may provide. The bill would require the EMSA and host entities to coordinate their activities with the Office of Emergency Services, as specified. This bill would exempt a registered volunteer health practitioner from the unauthorized practice provisions for a health or veterinary service unless they have reason to know of an applicable limitation, modification, or restriction or that a similarly licensed practitioner in this state would not be permitted to provide that service. The bill would authorize a health care licensing board to impose administrative sanctions upon a health practitioner licensed in this state for conduct outside of this state in response to an out-of-state emergency, and to impose administrative sanctions upon a practitioner not licensed in this state for conduct in this state in response to an in-state emergency, if certain conditions are met. The bill would also provide that volunteer health practitioners providing services in California shall be considered agents or employees of the state for the purpose of workers' compensation coverage while performing services in this state or traveling to or from this state for that purpose. The bill would authorize the authority to promulgate rules, after approval by the Commission on Emergency Medical Services, in order to implement the provisions of the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act.

Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical services (EMS) systems, authorizes each county to develop an EMS program and designate a local EMS agency, and requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority to receive plans for the implementation of EMS systems from local EMS agencies, as specified. Existing law requires a county to enter into a written agreement with a city or fire district that contracted for or provided prehospital EMS as of June 1, 1980. Existing law requires, until that written agreement is reached, prehospital EMS to be continued at not less than the existing level and the administration of prehospital EMS by cities and fire districts contracting for or providing those services as of June 1, 1980, to be retained by those cities and fire districts, as specified. This bill would authorize a county board of supervisors or the governing body of an entity or a joint powers agency designated as the local EMS agency by the board of supervisors to provide ambulance services to persons located within the county's jurisdiction by specified means, including assigning the duty of providing ambulance services to residents of the county to an existing county department and providing the department with the necessary staffing, vehicles, and equipment to provide ambulance services. The bill would require a county board of supervisors or a local EMS agency to adopt a written policy, including specified requirements, for an emergency ambulance services provider in order to enter into a contract with a provider for emergency ambulance services and would include required provisions for those contracts. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes, among others, the California Department of Aging in the California Health and Human Services Agency, also known as CalHHS and headed by the Secretary of CalHHS, and sets forth its mission to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or least restrictive homelike environments. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of long-term health care facilities, including skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires, among other things, the department to administer the Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) program. No later than July 1, 2026, this bill would require the Secretary of CalHHS, in coordination with various state departments, offices, and other entities, as specified, to develop a working group to make recommendations regarding the evacuation and sheltering needs of older adults and persons with disabilities living in long-term care facilities during natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. The bill would require the Secretary of CalHHS to submit the recommendations no later than July 1, 2027, and would repeal that requirement on January 1, 2030.