AB 2325: Ken Maddy California Cancer Registry.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a statewide system for the collection of information determining the incidence of cancer, known as the Ken Maddy California Cancer Registry. Existing law authorizes the department to designate any demographic parts of the state as regional cancer incidence reporting areas and establish regional cancer registries to provide cancer incidence data. Existing law requires any hospital or other facility providing therapy to cancer patients within a cancer reporting area to report each case of cancer to the department or the authorized representative of the department in a format prescribed by the department. Existing law provides that if the hospital or other facility fails to report in a format prescribed by the department, the departments authorized representative is authorized to access the information from the hospital or the facility and report it in the appropriate format. In these cases, existing law requires the hospital or other health facility to reimburse the department or the authorized representative for its cost to access and report the information. Existing law also requires any physician, dentist, podiatrist, or other health care practitioner diagnosing or providing treatment for cancer patients to report each cancer case to the department or the authorized representative of the department, except for those cases directly referred to a treatment facility or those previously admitted to a treatment facility for diagnosis or treatment of that instance of cancer.

This bill, on or after January 1, 2019, would, among other things, require a pathologist diagnosing cancer to report cancer diagnoses to the department by electronic means, including, but not limited to, either directly from an electronic medical record or using a designated Internet Web portal provided by the department. If a pathologist fails to report electronically and with an approved format, the bill would authorize the departments authorized representative to access the information from the pathologist in an appropriate alternative format. In these cases, the bill would require the pathologist to reimburse the department or the authorized representative for its cost to access and report the information. The bill would require the department to prescribe the data required to be included in the reports and to work collaboratively with stakeholders to designate a standardized electronic format for submission of the reports.