AB 2096: Chemical dependency recovery hospitals.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Public Health of certain health facilities, including a chemical dependency recovery hospital, which is defined to mean a health facility that provides 24-hour inpatient care for persons who have a dependency on alcohol or other drugs, or both alcohol and other drugs. Existing law authorizes chemical dependency recovery services to be provided as a supplemental service in existing general acute care beds and acute psychiatric beds in a distinct part of a general acute care hospital or acute psychiatric hospital or in existing beds in a distinct part of a freestanding facility, as specified.

This bill would recast and revise the requirements with respect to a chemical dependency recovery hospital, including requiring all beds in a chemical dependency recovery hospital to be designated for chemical dependency recovery services, as specified. The bill would authorize chemical dependency recovery services to be provided in a freestanding facility, within a hospital building that only provides chemical recovery services, or within a distinct part, as defined. The bill also would authorize chemical dependency recovery services to be provided within a hospital building that has been removed from general acute care use. The bill would require chemical dependency recovery services to comply with specified regulatory requirements for basic services, and optional services if the facility is approved by the department to provide them. The bill would only authorize the colocation of chemical dependency recovery services as a distinct part with other services or distinct parts of its parent hospital, as specified. The bill would delete existing requirements for a chemical dependency recovery hospital that is not a supplemental service of a general acute care hospital to have agreements with other general acute care hospitals to provide specified additional services, and instead would apply those requirements to a separately licensed chemical dependency recovery hospital that is not a distinct part of a general acute care hospital.