AB 449: COVID-19: death data: hospital reporting.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a list of reportable communicable and noncommunicable diseases and conditions and to specify the timeliness requirements related to the reporting of each disease and condition, and the mechanisms required for, and the contents to be included in, a report.

Existing law requires a health facility, which includes a hospital, to designate an infection control officer who is responsible for implementing testing and reporting of infections and other hospital infection control efforts. Under existing law, a violation of this provision and provisions regulating health facilities is a crime.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to require hospitals to submit an annual report to the Legislature commencing in 2022 that includes the number of patient deaths from COVID-19 in the hospital, the reimbursement that the hospital has received from treating COVID-19 patients from 2020 to 2021, inclusive, and the gender demographic data for patients who have died due to COVID-19.