SB 516

This bill requires hospitals to provide a patient or, if applicable, a patient's legal

guardian with an opportunity to designate a caregiver who will receive, before the

patient is discharged from the hospital, instruction regarding assistance with the

patient's care after discharge.

Under the bill, a hospital must, no later than 24 hours following a patient's

admission to a hospital and before the patient is discharged or transferred, provide

at least one opportunity for a patient or, if applicable, a patient's legal guardian to

designate at least one caregiver. If a patient is unconscious or otherwise

incapacitated when admitted, the hospital shall provide an opportunity for caregiver

designation within 24 hours after the patient regains consciousness or capacity. If

a patient or legal guardian designates a caregiver, a hospital must promptly record

the name and contact information of the caregiver. If a patient or legal guardian

declines to designate a caregiver, the hospital must also promptly document that

information. Patients are not required to designate a caregiver under this bill and,

further, the designation of a caregiver does not obligate any individual to provide

aftercare for the patient. A patient may elect to change the designated caregiver at

any time, and the hospital must record the change within 24 hours.

The bill requires that if a patient designates a caregiver, the hospital must

promptly request written consent to release medical information to the patient's

caregiver. If the patient or the patient's legal guardian declines to provide consent,

the hospital is relieved of its notification and consultation obligations.

Under current law, patient medical records are kept confidential except in

certain limited circumstances, including if a patient or a person authorized by the

patient gives consent to the disclosure. Even without agreement, a health care

provider may, in certain circumstances such as patient incapacitation, release a

limited amount of information necessary to identify, locate, or provide notification of

the patient's location, condition, or death. Beyond that, current law allows a health

care provider to provide more information only to certain listed individuals.

Specifically, a health care provider may provide to the patient's immediate family,

another relative, a close personal friend of the patient, or an individual identified by

the patient, that portion of information from the health care record directly relevant

to that individual's involvement in the patient's care. This bill adds designated

caregivers to the list of individuals permitted access to information directly relevant

to that individual's involvement in the patient's care.