During the COVID-19 global pandemic, healthcare facilities in California quickly experienced a severe supply shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as surgical masks, respirators, and eye protection. SB-275 and AB2537 were enacted to protect healthcare workers from the spread of infectious diseases and to ensure an adequate supply of PPE to prepare for future public health emergencies.
Q: What is the difference between SB-275 and AB-2537?
ANSWER: AB-2537 applies to any public or private sector employer workers to provide direct patient care in a general acute care hospital. SB-275 has a broader scope and also applies to employers that employ workers in a skilled nursing facility, a medical practice that is operated or maintained as part of an integrated health system or health facility, or a licensed dialysis clinic.
Q: What is SB-275 and how will it impact my healthcare facility?
ANSWER: A bill in the State of California where the State Department of Public Health and the Office of Emergency Services and other state agencies requires healthcare employers to stockpile personal protective equipment (PPE).
This bill requires the department to establish guidelines for procurement management and distribution of PPE taking into account the amount and type of PPE that would be required for all healthcare workers and essential workers in the state of CA during a 90-day pandemic or health emergency.
Q: When does the SB-275 Bill go into effect in the State of California for healthcare institutions?
ANSWER: January 1, 2023
Q: What are the requirements for SB-275?
ANSWER: Require health care employers, including clinics, health facilities, and home health agencies, to maintain an inventory of new, unexpired PPE for use in the event of a declared state of emergency and would require the inventory to be at least sufficient for 45 days of surge consumption
Q: What types of products need to be included in the stockpile for PPE to follow the requirements for SB-275?
ANSWER: Protective equipment for eyes, face, head and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices, protective shields, barriers, including but not limited to N95, other filtering facepiece respirators, elastomeric air purifying respirators filters and cartridges powered by air purifying respirators, disinfecting and sterilizing devices and supplies, medical gowns and apparel, face masks, surgical masks, face shields, gloves, shoe coverings and equipment identified by or otherwise necessary to comply with Section 5199 Title 8 of Code of California Regulations.
Q: Is there a penalty to a healthcare institution who does not follow the SB-275?
ANSWER: Yes, the bill would assess a civil penalty on a health care employer who violates that requirement
Q: Is there more information about requirements related to the “stockpile” of PPE for SB-275?
ANSWER: The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to adopt regulations, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, setting forth requirements for determining 45-day surge capacity levels, as specified for a health care employer’s PPE inventory.
Q: What types of healthcare institutions must follow the SB-275 bill?
ANSWER: Health care employer” means a person or organization that employs workers in the public or private sector to provide direct patient care in a general acute care hospital setting as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, a health facility as defined in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, a medical practice that is operated or maintained as part of an integrated health system or health facility, or a dialysis clinic licensed in accordance with paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 1204 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) “Health care employer” does not include an independent medical practice that is owned and operated, or maintained as a clinic or office, by one or more licensed physicians and used as an office for the practice of their profession, within the scope of their license, regardless of the name used publicly to identify the place or establishment unless the medical practice is operated or maintained exclusively as part of an integrated health system or health facility or is an entity described in subdivision (l) of Section 1206 of the Health and Safety Code.
Q: What happens if there are issues with supply chain or other matters that prohibit my institution from getting product for the SB-275 bill?
ANSWER: The bill would authorize the Department of Industrial Relations to exempt a health care employer from the above-required civil penalties if the department determines that supply chain limitations make meeting the mandated level of supplies for a specific type of PPE infeasible and the health care employer has made a reasonable attempt to obtain PPE, or if the health care employer has made a showing that they are not in possession of the mandated level of supplies due to reasons beyond their control, as specified.
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