Is New Legislation To Regulate The Safety Of Outpatient Clinics Too Little Too Late?

In the last 20 years, the number of ASCs in the United States has more than tripled. Whereas there were only 336 registered facilities in 1985, there were 4,707 in 2006, according to a study by the RAND Corporation. In California, the number of clinics nearly doubled during the 10-year period from 1996 to 2006, from 253 to 482. Unlike in other states, where hospital departments and outpatient clinics are supervised by the same agency, in California they answer to separate agencies, each with its own approach to ensuring safe practices.
As of 2007, the Medical Board of California has regulated physician-owned outpatient centers, while hospitals and other clinics have fallen under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Public Health. The state stopped licensing centers that were fully or partially owned by doctors after a physician challenged section 1204, subdivision (b)(1) of the Health and Safety Code and the trial court issued a judgment in his favor, after which point the number of licensed centers fell from 480 to 45, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Until recently, the Medical Board of California was ill equipped to oversee the safety of ASCs, as it neither had the power to conduct surprise inspections nor to close centers it deemed to be dangerous. The agencies tasked to accredit the centers evaluated them differently and failed to communicate with one another when a center lost accreditation, resulting in a practice called “accreditation shopping.” Moreover, the public had no access to the records indicating that a physician had acted inappropriately or negligently.
Such an ineffectual system of regulation has proven extremely injurious to the public, explains an attorney in the state. In 2008, a woman bled to death after her uterus was punctured during a series of cosmetic procedures at an outpatient surgery center in Orange County that was neither licensed nor accredited. The doctor who operated on her was also the subject of an investigation by the California Medical Board. She—like the five lap band recipients who recently died after undergoing the procedure in Los Angeles—knew more about the clinic from advertisements than from any government health agency.

In response to the escalating rate of fatalities at ASCs, Governor Jerry Brown approved legislation that will subject them to stricter regulation. Under the new law, accrediting agencies must inspect the centers every three years, conduct surprise inspections, and communicate to prevent accreditation shopping. Safety violations and license suspensions at outpatient centers will also be listed on the Medical Board’s website.

More than accomplishing too little, the legislation is too late, as several lives have been lost due to the care received at poorly regulated outpatient centers.

By: Larry Drexel

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Larry Drexel is a Public Relations manager. To obtain free, informative books or articles he suggests visiting Orange County injury attorney.