(a) As a condition of licensure, each hospital shall adopt, in consultation with the medical staff, policies and transfer protocols consistent with this article and regulations adopted hereunder.
(b) As a condition of licensure, each hospital shall adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination in the provision of emergency services and care based on ethnicity, citizenship, age, preexisting medical condition, insurance status, economic status, ability to pay for medical services, or any characteristic listed or defined in subdivision (b) or (e) of Section 51 of the Civil Code, except to the extent that a circumstance such as age, sex, preexisting medical condition, or physical or mental disability is medically significant to the provision of appropriate medical care to the patient. Transfer by a hospital of a patient who requires evaluation for involuntary psychiatric treatment, as determined by the receiving hospital or other receiving health facility, based upon the decision of a professional person duly authorized by law to make that decision, shall not constitute discrimination for the purposes of this section, if the transferring hospital has not been designated as an evaluation facility by a county pursuant to Section 5150 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and if the transfer is in compliance with Section 1317.2.
(c) As a condition of licensure, each hospital shall require that physicians and surgeons who serve on an “on-call” basis to the hospital’s emergency room cannot refuse to respond to a call on the basis of the patient’s ethnicity, citizenship, age, preexisting medical condition, insurance status, economic status, ability to pay for medical services, or any characteristic listed or defined in subdivision (b) or (e) of Section 51 of the Civil Code, except to the extent that a circumstance such as age, sex, preexisting medical condition, or physical or mental disability is medically significant to the provision of appropriate medical care to the patient. If a contract between a physician and surgeon and hospital for the provision of emergency room coverage presently prevents the hospital from imposing those conditions, the conditions shall be included in the contract as soon as is legally permissible. Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring that any physician serve on an “on-call” basis.
(d) As a condition of licensure, all hospitals shall inform all persons presented to an emergency room or their representatives if any are present and the person is unable to understand verbal or written communication, both orally and in writing, of the reasons for the transfer or refusal to provide emergency services and care and of the person’s right to emergency services and care prior to transfer or discharge without regard to ability to pay. Nothing in this subdivision requires notification of the reasons for the transfer in advance of the transfer where a person is unaccompanied and the hospital has made a reasonable effort to locate a representative, and because of the person’s physical or mental condition, notification is not possible. All hospitals shall prominently post a sign in their emergency rooms informing the public of their rights. Both the posted sign and written communication concerning the transfer or refusal to provide emergency services and care shall give the address of the department as the government agency to contact in the event the person wishes to complain about the hospital’s conduct.
(e) If a hospital does not timely adopt the policies and protocols required in this article, the hospital, in addition to denial or revocation of any of its licenses, shall be subject to a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) each day after expiration of 60 days’ written notice from the state department that the hospital’s policies or protocols required by this article are inadequate unless the delay is excused by the state department upon a showing of good and sufficient cause by the hospital. The notice shall include a detailed statement of the state department’s reasons for its determination and suggested changes to the hospital’s protocols which would be acceptable to the state department.
(f) Each hospital’s policies and protocols required in or under this article shall be submitted for approval to the state department by December 31, 1988.
(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 568, Sec. 38. Effective January 1, 2008.)