No. CS/SB 68
Filed under Healthcare.
Health Care Patient Protection; Requiring hospitals with emergency departments to develop and implement policies and procedures and conduct training; authorizing a hospital with an emergency department to conduct the National Pediatric Readiness Project’s Open Assessment under certain circumstances; requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to adopt certain rules for comprehensive emergency management plans, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDEvery hospital with an emergency department must adopt evidence-based pediatric care policies covering triage, vital signs, weight-based dosing, and pediatric equipment, and train staff on them at least once a year, including simulated drills.
Each hospital must designate a pediatric emergency care coordinator, who can be a physician, physician assistant, nurse, or paramedic, responsible for making sure the hospital's pediatric policies are actually followed.
Hospitals must regularly complete a National Pediatric Readiness Assessment, with a lighter 'Open Assessment' allowed in years the full assessment isn't required, and the state must publish each hospital's score for public comparison.
The state health agency must also adopt rules setting minimum standards for pediatric equipment and supplies in emergency departments, and disaster plans must now address the needs of pediatric and neonatal patients.
AIEvery hospital emergency department must write policies covering triage, vital-sign measurement, weighing patients in kilograms, medication dosage calculation, and pediatric instrument use, and train staff on them every year using clinical simulation and emergency drills.
AIThe Agency for Health Care Administration must write rules setting minimum standards for pediatric patient care in hospital emergency departments, including making pediatric-specific equipment and supplies immediately available.
AIThe state must collect each emergency department's pediatric readiness assessment score and publish it individually, alongside a comparison to the national average, making hospital-level pediatric readiness a matter of public record.
AIEach hospital emergency department must designate a coordinator, drawn from a specific list of licensed professions, who is accountable for making sure the hospital's new pediatric policies and procedures are actually carried out.
AIHospitals must normally complete the National Pediatric Readiness Assessment on an outside schedule, but may instead complete the shorter Open Assessment during any year that the full assessment isn't required.
AIComprehensive emergency management plans, which hospitals must already file for state approval, must now specifically address the needs of pediatric and neonatal patients, not just the general population.