Bill > A1820

Introduced Session

Under the bill, a clinical laboratory and general acute care hospital that collect data concerning patient race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity, will be required to establish cultural competency training programs for all staff members employed by or working under the supervision of a general acute care hospital or clinical laboratory who have direct contact with patients and who are responsible for collecting race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity information for patients. The bill provides that the Department of Health will identify an evidence-based cultural competency training tool that may be utilized by cultural competency training programs implemented by general acute hospitals and clinical laboratories under the bill. The use of the department's approved training tool by a general acute hospital or clinical laboratory will not preclude the hospital or clinical laboratory from utilizing additional or customized training tools in addition to the department's approved training tool. Under the bill, a clinical laboratory is to electronically record the race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity of each patient who presents with a non-electronic order for testing at a clinical laboratory patient service center. If a clinical laboratory processes a specimen without the presence of a patient, the clinical laboratory shall not be responsible for recording and reporting the patient's gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic information. Race and ethnicity selections are to include: African American, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Latino, more than one race, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, White, and does not wish to disclose. Sexual orientation selections are to include: bisexual, do not know, heterosexual or straight, homosexual, gay, lesbian, something else, and does not wish to disclose. Gender identity selections are to include: male, female, transgender-female, transgender-male, non-binary, other, and does not wish to disclose. Any health care related data that is required under State law to be reported by a clinical laboratory to a local or State governmental entity is to include any corresponding gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic data recorded pursuant to the bill's provisions, and is to be incorporated into the corresponding disease surveillance reporting system of the local or State governmental entity. Under the bill, a non-electronic specimen collection and analysis requisition form distributed by a clinical laboratory is to contain a section for the manual entry of the patient's racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and gender identity information on the form. Any electronic medical records or laboratory information management systems used in this State or sold by a vendor of such systems in this State, on or after the effective date of this bill, is to be configured in a manner that prevents an authorized user from saving or storing a patient's demographic information into the electronic medical records or laboratory information management systems unless a patient's gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic information is recorded. Nothing in the bill's provisions is to prohibit a clinical laboratory from receiving, processing, or saving data related to specimens that are ordered or received from outside of this State. The gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic information of a patient is to be included in laboratory orders generated by electronic medical record systems. The vendor of an electronic medical records or laboratory information management system that is not in compliance with the requirements of the bill will be subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 for each day the vendor's system is noncompliant. Nothing in the bill's provisions is to be construed to compel a patient to disclose the patient's race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity to a clinical laboratory, health care provider, or any other entity. Under the bill, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity information that is required to be recorded or reported pursuant to bill's provisions is to be recorded or reported using a program that is compatible with the State's disease surveillance reporting system or equivalent to Health Level Seven International recording and reporting standards.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Melinda Kane (D)*,  Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D),  Sterley Stanley (D), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document