The California Legislature has approved a
bill that would enhance hospital reporting requirements of adverse events and establish state rules around nonpayment for medical errors and hospital-acquired conditions.
The bill requires the medical director and director of nursing at each hospital in California to report adverse events and hospital-acquired infections to their board of directors or other governance body on an annual basis, including patient outcomes.
It also requires the state Department of Health Care Services to convene a working group to evaluate options to implement non-payment policies for adverse events for Medicaid patients that are consistent with federal laws. Hospital officials would be represented in the working group. The group would then make recommendations on a non-payment policy for never events by Feb. 1, 2011, according to the bill.
California Assemblyman Mike Feuer, a Democrat from Los Angeles, sponsored the bill. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not said whether he will sign it.
