(a) (1) The department shall recommend training for general acute care hospitals, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250, and special hospitals, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 1250, that is intended to improve breast-feeding rates among mothers and infants. This recommended training should be designed for general acute care hospitals that provide maternity care and have exclusive patient breast-feeding rates in the lowest 25 percent, according to the data published yearly by the State Department of Public Health, when ranked from highest to lowest rates. The training offered shall include a minimum of eight hours of training provided to appropriate administrative and supervisory staff on hospital policies and recommendations that promote exclusive breast-feeding. Hospitals that meet the minimum criteria for exclusive breast-feeding rates prescribed in the most current Healthy People Guidelines of the United States Department of Health and Human Services shall be excluded from the training requirements recommended by this paragraph.
(2) The department shall notify the hospital director or other person in charge of a hospital to which paragraph (1) applies, that the eight-hour model training course developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 123360, is available, upon request, to the hospital.
(b) The recommendations provided for in this section are advisory only. Nothing in this section shall require a hospital to comply with the training recommended by this section. Section 1290 shall not apply to this section, nor shall meeting the recommendations of this section be a condition of licensure.
(Added by Stats. 2007, Ch. 460, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2008.)