Across the nation, increasing attention is being paid to the quality of healthcare, particularly in hospital settings. Recently the California Legislature passed, and Governor Schwarzenegger signed, four bills that together will have a significant impact on hospitals and will likely require changes in operational policies and procedures to ensure compliance. SB158 (Florez), SB1058 (Alquist), SB541 (Alquist), and AB211 (Jones) provide the State with additional authority to assess substantial fines against licensed facilities as well as unlicensed individuals and entities for violations of law. We see these new laws as indicative of systemic change in how the State of California interacts with hospitals, and as establishing increasingly higher expectations of quality and patient safety.

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