Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Public Health of certain health facilities, including a chemical dependency recovery hospital, which is defined to mean a health facility that provides 24-hour inpatient care for persons who have a dependency on alcohol or other drugs, or both alcohol and other drugs. Existing law requires all beds in a chemical dependency recovery hospital to be designated for chemical dependency recovery services, as specified. Existing law authorizes chemical dependency recovery services to be provided in a freestanding facility, within a hospital building that only provides chemical recovery services, or within a distinct part of a hospital, as defined. Existing law also authorizes chemical dependency recovery services to be provided within a hospital building that has been removed from general acute care use. Existing law requires chemical dependency recovery services to comply with specified regulatory requirements for basic services, and optional services if the facility is approved by the department to provide them. Existing law only authorizes the colocation of chemical dependency recovery services as a distinct part with other services or distinct parts of its parent hospital, as specified. Existing law requires a separately licensed chemical dependency recovery hospital that is not a distinct part of a general acute care hospital to have agreements with one or more general acute care hospitals to provide specified additional services.
This bill would expand the definition of "chemical dependency recovery services" to include medications for addiction treatment and medically supervised voluntary inpatient detoxification, but would specify that it does not include certain treatment of severe, potentially life threatening, intoxication and withdrawal syndromes. The bill would delete the requirement for chemical dependency recovery as a supplemental service to be provided in a distinct part of a general acute care hospital or acute psychiatric hospital, and instead would authorize those facilities to provide chemical dependency recovery services as a supplemental service within the same building or in a separate building on campus that meets specified structural requirements of a freestanding chemical dependency recovery hospital. The bill would also authorize chemical dependency recovery services to be provided in a general acute care hospital or acute psychiatric hospital without a distinct part, or outside the distinct part, in beds that are licensed for a service other than chemical dependency recovery if certain conditions are satisfied. The bill would require a general acute care hospital, acute psychiatric hospital, or distinct unit thereof, providing chemical dependency recovery services that meet specified federal program requirements, to provide the confidentiality protections required by specified federal regulations to the hospital's or unit's patients with a substance use disorder. The bill would also authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions by means of an All Facilities Letter or similar instruction.

Statutes affected:
AB2376: 1250.3 HSC
03/21/24 - Amended Assembly: 1250.3 HSC, 1250.3 HSC
07/03/24 - Amended Senate: 1250.3 HSC
08/23/24 - Amended Senate: 1250.3 HSC
08/31/24 - Enrolled: 1250.3 HSC
09/27/24 - Chaptered: 1250.3 HSC