Governor Signs CMA-Sponsored Bill Creating State Dept. of Public Health
[Posted 09/21/06]

Governor Schwarzenegger this week signed a CMA-sponsored bill that establishes a new California Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 2007. The governor will appoint a State Public Health Officer to head the department. The public health officer must according to the law be a licensed physician or surgeon.

The Department of Public Health will be able to more effectively address pressing public health concerns, such as bioterrorism, emergency response, and the prevention and detection of communicable diseases.

CMA has long championed a proactive public health policy. In 1870, California became the second state to establish a public health department. It was disbanded in the 1970s under then-Governor Reagan.

“Reestablishing a public health department has been a high priority for the CMA for years,” says CMA President Michael Sexton, M.D. “We believe a separate department will provide the resources and attention that are required to maintain the health of Californians. Not long ago, California was in the forefront of public health innovations with some of the nation’s leading programs in disease detection, epidemiology and maternal and child health programs. We can be there again.”

Governor Schwarzenegger has a number of other CMA-supported bills on his desk for consideration. He has until Saturday, September 30, to sign or veto the bills, or allow them to become law.

Among those bills:

Reporting Lapses of Consciousness (SB 212). This bill would repeal the requirement that mandates physicians report to the county health officer the name of individuals diagnosed as having a disorder characterized by lapses of consciousness, and instead allows for discretionary physician reporting, except for dementia-related disorders.

Medi-Cal Provider Enrollment (SB 1353). This bill would expedite the Medi-Cal provider enrollment process. There is currently a backlog of more than 11,000 physicians waiting for Medi-Cal approval. Specifically, the bill shortens the time that DHS has to process provider applications, and authorizes Medi-Cal to expedite enrollment using a new short-form application for Medicare providers and physicians with privileges at acute care hospitals.

Electronic Advance Health Care Directives (AB 2805). This bill would update California’s advance health care directive law to allow living wills to be filed and signed electronically.

Also on the governor’s desk is a CMA-opposed bill (SB 438) that would expand oral and maxillofacial surgeons’ scope of practice. Similar to legislation vetoed last year by the governor, this CMA-opposed bill would allow oral and maxillofacial surgeons to perform elective facial cosmetic surgery procedures. CMA is urging the governor to again veto this bill. CMA believes that patients are put at risk when nonphysician practitioners provide care for which they are inadequately trained. CMA has endorsed the idea of an expedited residency program for oral and maxillofacial surgeons who wish to become qualified plastic surgeons.

For more information on these and other bills of interest to physicians, see CMA's weekly Legislative Hot List.

Contact: Susan Bassett, 916/444-5532 or sbassett@cmanet.org.