Dive Brief:
- California state senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose) recently introduced Senate Bill 483, which includes restrictions on observation stays and proposes new notification requirements in the state.
- The bill seeks to limit the period of observation time to no more than 24 hours, require observation services to meet the same staffing standards as emergency departments, require hospitals to notify patients that they are being provided outpatient services and require hospitals to report observation services to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
- The bill, which is being backed by the California Nurses Association (CNA), is a new version of Senate Bill 1239, which hospitals lobbied against last year.
Dive Insight:
If observation stays are limited to 24 hours, more patients will need to be admitted. Once patients have been formally admitted, hospitals are subject to Medicare fines if they are released and readmitted within 30 days. If Senate Bill 483 passes, hospitals will be walking a fine line between patient care and protecting their bottom lines, a concern that has been raised by the CNA. "Use of 'observation' status is an escalating abuse that puts patients at health and financial risk," CNA Co-President Zenei Cortez, RN said in a press release. "It's time to provide all patients the same level of protection when they need hospital care."