Report 2021-123 Recommendation Responses
Report 2021-123: California Hospice Licensure and Oversight: The State's Weak Oversight of Hospice Agencies Has Created Opportunities for Large-Scale Fraud and Abuse (Release Date: March 2022)
Recommendation for Legislative Action
To protect the health and safety of current and prospective hospice patients, the Legislature should require Public Health to issue emergency regulations within one year, while maintaining the general moratorium on new hospice licenses until Public Health issues the regulations. The emergency regulations should do the following: Establish requirements for follow-up inspections to the initial site visits within one year of initial licensing to verify that hospice agencies are complying with those hospice standards that cannot be assessed before the agencies begin providing care to patients. These inspections should be unannounced and take place after the hospice agency has begun caring for patients. During these inspections, Public Health should visit patients, ensure that the certifications of terminal illness are accurate, confirm that the hospice agency is providing adequate care, check hospice personnel identities and medical licenses, and ensure that the hospice agency has reported any personnel changes.
Description of Legislative Action
AB 2673 (Chapter 797, Statutes of 2022) requires, among other things, the Department of Public Health to issue emergency regulations to implement the recommendations in this audit report. This bill requires Public Health to maintain the moratorium on new hospice agencies until it adopts regulations, but no later than March 29, 2024, two years from the date we issued our audit report. However, this bill does not specifically require the regulations to include requirements for follow-up inspections to the initial site visits within one year of initial licensing to verify that hospice agencies are complying with those hospice standards that cannot be assessed before the agencies begin providing care to patients.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: January 2023