Cal. HSC § 1797.188 — California Code / Code hsc / Division 2.5 / Chapter 3 / Article 5 / Section 1797.188
Section 1797.188
Status: in_force

(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Prehospital emergency medical care person or personnel” means any of the following: an authorized registered nurse or mobile intensive care nurse, emergency medical technician-I, emergency medical technician-II, emergency medical technician-paramedic, lifeguard, firefighter, or peace officer, as defined or described by Sections 1797.56, 1797.80, 1797.82, 1797.84, 1797.182, and 1797.183, respectively, or a physician and surgeon who provides prehospital emergency medical care or rescue services.

(2) “Reportable communicable disease or condition” or “a communicable disease or condition listed as reportable” means those diseases prescribed by Subchapter 1 (commencing with Section 2500) of Chapter 4 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, as may be amended from time to time.

(3) “Exposed” means at risk for contracting the disease, as defined by regulations of the state department.

(4) “Health facility” means a health facility, as defined in Section 1250, including a publicly operated facility.

(5) “Health facility infection control officer” means the official or officer who has been designated by the health facility to communicate with a designated officer, or his or her designee.

(6) “Designated officer” means the official or officer of an employer of a prehospital emergency medical care person or personnel who has been designated by the state’s public health officer or the employer.

(7) “Urgency reporting requirement” means a disease required to be reported immediately by telephone or reported by telephone within one working day pursuant to subdivisions (h) and (i) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.

(b) In addition to the communicable disease testing and notification procedures applicable under Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 120260) of Part 1 of Division 105, all prehospital emergency medical care personnel, whether volunteers, partly paid, or fully paid, who have provided emergency medical or rescue services and have been exposed to a person afflicted with a communicable disease or condition listed as reportable, which can, as determined by the county health officer, be transmitted through physical or oral contact or secretions of the body, including blood, shall be notified that they have been exposed to the disease or condition in accordance with the following:

(1) If the prehospital emergency medical care person, who has rendered emergency medical or rescue services and believes that he or she may have been exposed to a person afflicted with a reportable communicable disease or condition in a manner that could result in transmission of a reportable communicable disease or condition, and provides the health facility infection control officer with his or her name and telephone number at the time the patient is transferred from that prehospital emergency medical care person to the admitting health facility; or the party transporting the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition provides that health facility with the name and telephone number of the prehospital emergency medical care person who provided the emergency medical or rescue services and believes he or she may have been exposed to a person afflicted with a reportable communicable disease or condition in a manner that could result in transmission of a communicable disease or condition, the health facility infection control officer, upon determining that the person to whom the prehospital emergency medical care person provided the emergency medical or rescue services is diagnosed as being afflicted with a reportable communicable disease or condition, and that the reportable communicable disease or condition may have been transmitted during the provision of emergency medical or rescue services, shall immediately notify the designated officer of the prehospital emergency medical care person if the reportable communicable disease or condition has an urgency reporting requirement on the list of reportable diseases or conditions, or if the conditions of the exposure may have included direct contact between the unprotected skin, eyes, or mucous membranes of the prehospital emergency medical care person and the blood of the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition. Otherwise, the health facility infection control officer shall notify the designated officer consistent with Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. The health facility infection control officer shall also report the name and telephone number of the prehospital emergency medical care person to the county health officer. The designated officer shall immediately notify the prehospital emergency medical care person if the reportable communicable disease or condition has an urgency reporting requirement on the list of reportable diseases or conditions, or if the conditions of the exposure may have included direct contact between the unprotected skin, eyes, or mucous membranes of the prehospital emergency medical care person and the blood of the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition. Otherwise, the designated officer shall notify the prehospital emergency medical care person consistent with Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.

(2) If the prehospital emergency medical care person who has rendered emergency medical or rescue services and has been exposed to a person afflicted with a reportable communicable disease or condition, but has not provided the health facility infection control officer with his or her name and telephone number pursuant to paragraph (1), the health facility infection control officer, upon determining that the person to whom the prehospital emergency medical care person provided the emergency medical or rescue services is diagnosed as being afflicted with a reportable communicable disease or condition that may have been transmitted during provision of emergency medical or rescue services, shall immediately notify the designated officer of the employer of the prehospital emergency medical care person and the county health officer if the reportable communicable disease or condition has an urgency reporting requirement on the list of reportable diseases or conditions, or if the conditions of the exposure may have included direct contact between the unprotected skin, eyes, or mucous membranes of the prehospital emergency medical care person and the blood of the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition. Otherwise, the health facility infection control officer shall notify the designated officer consistent with Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. The designated officer shall immediately notify the prehospital emergency medical care person if the reportable communicable disease or condition has an urgency reporting requirement on the list of reportable diseases or conditions, or if the conditions of the exposure may have included direct contact between the unprotected skin, eyes, or mucous membranes of the prehospital emergency medical care person and the blood of the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition. Otherwise, the designated officer shall notify the prehospital emergency medical care person consistent with Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.

(c) The county health officer shall immediately notify the prehospital emergency medical care person who has provided emergency medical or rescue services and has been exposed to a person afflicted with a communicable disease or condition listed as reportable, which can, as determined by the county health officer, be transmitted through oral contact or secretions of the body, including blood, if the reportable communicable disease or condition has an urgency reporting requirement on the list of reportable diseases or conditions, or if the conditions of the exposure may have included direct contact between the unprotected skin, eyes, or mucous membranes of the prehospital emergency medical care person and the blood of the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition, upon receiving the report from a health facility pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b). Otherwise, the county health officer shall notify the prehospital emergency medical care person consistent with Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. The county health officer shall not disclose the name of the patient or other identifying characteristics to the prehospital emergency medical care person.

(d) An employer of a prehospital emergency medical care person or personnel that maintains an Internet Web site shall post the title and telephone number of the designated officer in a conspicuous location on its Internet Web site accessible from the home page. A health facility that maintains an Internet Web site shall post the title and telephone number of the health facility infection control officer in a conspicuous location on its Internet Web site accessible from the home page.

(e) (1) The health facility infection control officer, or his or her designee, shall be available either onsite or on call 24 hours per day.

(2) The designated officer, or his or her designee, shall be available either onsite or on call 24 hours per day.

(f) An employer of a health facility infection control officer and an employer of a prehospital emergency medical care person or personnel shall inform those employees of this law as part of the Cal-OSHA Injury and Illness Prevention Program training required by paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.

(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the further disclosure of confidential medical information by the health facility, the designated officer, or any prehospital emergency medical care personnel described in this section except as otherwise authorized by law.

(h) In the event of the demise of the person afflicted with the reportable communicable disease or condition, the health facility or county health officer shall notify the funeral director, charged with removing the decedent from the health facility, of the reportable communicable disease or condition prior to the release of the decedent from the health facility to the funeral director.

(i) Notwithstanding Section 1798.206, a violation of this section is not a misdemeanor.