Effective January 2020, California Senate Bill 464 (Mitchell, 2019) requires California hospitals to educate their perinatal care staff about implicit bias. After consultation with the Hospital Quality Institute (HQI) and other stakeholders, California Health Care Foundation has funded Diversity Science to develop online learning modules and associated resources for hospitals to assist them with this legislative requirement.

The California Department of Public Health has issued an All Facilities Letter notifying hospitals that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) no longer accepts paper forms for reporting deaths associated with restraint or seclusion, and that hospitals must report those deaths electronically.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Center for Health Care Quality has issued an All Facilities Letter (AFL) for a stakeholder meeting April 3. The meeting will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at 1500 Capitol Ave., Training Room A, Sacramento to discuss general acute care hospital (GACH) cardiac catheterization laboratory service regulations.

President Trump today declared a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The declaration is retroactive to March 1 and allows the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, state Children’s Health Insurance Programs, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy rule throughout the duration of the emergency. Details of the waiver under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act are not yet available, although during the President’s press conference, he mentioned expanding telehealth; waiving the critical access hospital bed limit and length-of-stay requirement; and waiving the requirement for a three-day hospital stay prior to reimbursing skilled-nursing facility services.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released the following information:

MACPAC Releases March 2020 Report to Congress
March 24 Webinar: IPFQR Program: Navigating the Hospital Compare Website
IRF Compare and LTCH Compare Quarterly Refresh Available
Hospice, IRF, LTCH Provider Preview Reports Available for Review Until April 13
2020 MIPS Facility-Based Status Available
2020 CAHPS for MIPS Survey Vendor Applications Due March 18
March 25 Webinar: CMS QRDA Category I Implementation Guide Changes for CY 2020 Hospital Quality Reporting
April 7: Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule Call
April 14: LTCH and IRF Quality Reporting Programs: SPADEs Webinar

Yesterday, CHA sent a letter to the California congressional delegation asking for immediate action in support of the response to COVID-19 by member hospitals and health systems.

On Monday, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development submitted a report to the Legislature with recommendations on how to establish and maintain a health care payment database in California. The report was submitted in advance of the July 1 deadline required by Assembly Bill 1810 (statutes of 2018) and includes 36 recommendations that were unanimously approved by a review committee of health care stakeholders. Per the statutes, the database must be substantially completed no later than July 1, 2023.