California peer review bill stalled

Trends often start in California, so medical services professionals (MSPs) may want to watch future developments involving Senate Bill 932-state legislation that originally called for dramatic changes to how hospitals can conduct peer review hearings.

The bill, sponsored by the California Medical Association (CMA), stalled after a committee hearing on April 25. For now, the language in the bill that would have made significant changes to the way hospitals conduct peer review hearings in California, will be deleted and the committee will require further study of the issue.

The committee action allows the various parties more time to negotiate the difficult issues raised in the bill, says Greg Abrams, legal counsel for the CMA. "[It] permits further work on the bill as needed, and assures that the bill will be considered again by the committee at a future time as it gets closer to final form."

Go to

www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0901-0950/sb_932_bill_20050411_amende... to see what was in the bill.