1248.15
. (a) The board shall adopt standards for accreditation and,
in approving accreditation agencies to perform accreditation of
outpatient settings, shall ensure that the certification program
shall, at a minimum, include standards for the following aspects of
the settings' operations:
(1) Outpatient setting allied health staff shall be licensed or
certified to the extent required by state or federal law.
(2) (A) Outpatient settings shall have a system for facility
safety and emergency training requirements.
(B) There shall be onsite equipment, medication, and trained
personnel to facilitate handling of services sought or provided and
to facilitate handling of any medical emergency that may arise in
connection with services sought or provided.
(C) In order for procedures to be performed in an outpatient
setting as defined in Section 1248, the outpatient setting shall do
one of the following:
(i) Have a written transfer agreement with a local accredited or
licensed acute care hospital, approved by the facility's medical
staff.
(ii) Permit surgery only by a licensee who has admitting
privileges at a local accredited or licensed acute care hospital,
with the exception that licensees who may be precluded from having
admitting privileges by their professional classification or other
administrative limitations, shall have a written transfer agreement
with licensees who have admitting privileges at local accredited or
licensed acute care hospitals.
(iii) Submit for approval by an accrediting agency a detailed
procedural plan for handling medical emergencies that shall be
reviewed at the time of accreditation. No reasonable plan shall be
disapproved by the accrediting agency.
(D) The outpatient setting shall submit for approval by an
accreditation agency at the time of accreditation a detailed plan,
standardized procedures, and protocols to be followed in the event of
serious complications or side effects from surgery that would place
a patient at high risk for injury or harm or to govern emergency and
urgent care situations. The plan shall include, at a minimum, that if
a patient is being transferred to a local accredited or licensed
acute care hospital, the outpatient setting shall do all of the
following:
(i) Notify the individual designated by the patient to be notified
in case of an emergency.
(ii) Ensure that the mode of transfer is consistent with the
patient's medical condition.
(iii) Ensure that all relevant clinical information is documented
and accompanies the patient at the time of transfer.
(iv) Continue to provide appropriate care to the patient until the
transfer is effectuated.
(E) All physicians and surgeons transferring patients from an
outpatient setting shall agree to cooperate with the medical staff
peer review process on the transferred case, the results of which
shall be referred back to the outpatient setting, if deemed
appropriate by the medical staff peer review committee. If the
medical staff of the acute care facility determines that
inappropriate care was delivered at the outpatient setting, the acute
care facility's peer review outcome shall be reported, as
appropriate, to the accrediting body or in accordance with existing
law.
(3) The outpatient setting shall permit surgery by a dentist
acting within his or her scope of practice under Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 1600) of Division 2 of the Business and
Professions Code or physician and surgeon, osteopathic physician and
surgeon, or podiatrist acting within his or her scope of practice
under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2000) of Division 2 of the
Business and Professions Code or the Osteopathic Initiative Act. The
outpatient setting may, in its discretion, permit anesthesia service
by a certified registered nurse anesthetist acting within his or her
scope of practice under Article 7 (commencing with Section 2825) of
Chapter 6 of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code.
(4) Outpatient settings shall have a system for maintaining
clinical records.
(5) Outpatient settings shall have a system for patient care and
monitoring procedures.
(6) (A) Outpatient settings shall have a system for quality
assessment and improvement.
(B) (i) Members of the medical staff and other practitioners who
are granted clinical privileges shall be professionally qualified and
appropriately credentialed for the performance of privileges
granted. The outpatient setting shall grant privileges in accordance
with recommendations from qualified health professionals, and
credentialing standards established by the outpatient setting.
(ii) Each licensee who performs procedures in an outpatient
setting that requires the outpatient setting to be accredited shall
be, at least every two years, peer reviewed, which shall be a process
in which the basic qualifications, staff privileges, employment,
medical outcomes, or professional conduct of a licensee is reviewed
to make recommendations for quality improvement and education, if
necessary, including when the outpatient setting has only one
licensee. The peer review shall be performed by licensees who are
qualified by education and experience to perform the same types of,
or similar, procedures. The findings of the peer review shall be
reported to the governing body, which shall determine if the licensee
continues to meet the requirements described in clause (i). The
process that resulted in the findings of the peer review shall be
reviewed by the accrediting agency at the next survey to determine if
the outpatient setting meets applicable accreditation standards
pursuant to this section.
(C) Clinical privileges shall be periodically reappraised by the
outpatient setting. The scope of procedures performed in the
outpatient setting shall be periodically reviewed and amended as
appropriate.
(7) Outpatient settings regulated by this chapter that have
multiple service locations shall have all of the sites inspected.
(8) Outpatient settings shall post the certificate of
accreditation in a location readily visible to patients and staff.
(9) Outpatient settings shall post the name and telephone number
of the accrediting agency with instructions on the submission of
complaints in a location readily visible to patients and staff.
(10) Outpatient settings shall have a written discharge criteria.
(b) Outpatient settings shall have a minimum of two staff persons
on the premises, one of whom shall either be a licensed physician and
surgeon or a licensed health care professional with current
certification in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), as long as a
patient is present who has not been discharged from supervised care.
Transfer to an unlicensed setting of a patient who does not meet the
discharge criteria adopted pursuant to paragraph (10) of subdivision
(a) shall constitute unprofessional conduct.
(c) An accreditation agency may include additional standards in
its determination to accredit outpatient settings if these are
approved by the board to protect the public health and safety.
(d) No accreditation standard adopted or approved by the board,
and no standard included in any certification program of any
accreditation agency approved by the board, shall serve to limit the
ability of any allied health care practitioner to provide services
within his or her full scope of practice. Notwithstanding this or any
other provision of law, each outpatient setting may limit the
privileges, or determine the privileges, within the appropriate scope
of practice, that will be afforded to physicians and allied health
care practitioners who practice at the facility, in accordance with
credentialing standards established by the outpatient setting in
compliance with this chapter. Privileges may not be arbitrarily
restricted based on category of licensure.
(e) The board shall adopt standards that it deems necessary for
outpatient settings that offer in vitro fertilization.
(f) The board may adopt regulations it deems necessary to specify
procedures that should be performed in an accredited outpatient
setting for facilities or clinics that are outside the definition of
outpatient setting as specified in Section 1248.
(g) As part of the accreditation process, the accrediting agency
shall conduct a reasonable investigation of the prior history of the
outpatient setting, including all licensed physicians and surgeons
who have an ownership interest therein, to determine whether there
have been any adverse accreditation decisions rendered against them.
For the purposes of this section, "conducting a reasonable
investigation" means querying the Medical Board of California and the
Osteopathic Medical Board of California to ascertain if either the
outpatient setting has, or, if its owners are licensed physicians and
surgeons, if those physicians and surgeons have, been subject to an
adverse accreditation decision.