700.1. County Health Officers shall convene County Health and Wellbeing Coordinating Councils to maximally coordinate healthcare efforts with local and state agencies responsible for environment, toxic, pollution, water and air quality, housing sufficiency, and safety. These Councils will map and connect direct health care efforts with related goals: that residents have access to fresh, nutritious food, live in pollution free neighborhoods, possess parks, recreation, and open spaces that are safe, and are living in affordable sanitary environments, i.e., certain specific social and environmental determinants of health.
701.1. Local Professional and Technical Advisory Councils shall meet quarterly and issue a semi-annual public report to County Health Officers and the Secretary on progress made in each county in reducing health disparities due to economic, social, and environmental factors; they shall provide their public findings and recommendations aimed at eliminating race, ethnic and wealth-based health disparities.
702.1. The Secretary will establish a California Patient Compensation Fund intended to compensate patients for pain, suffering, injuries, additional medical expenses, and loss of employment income arising from medical error, malpractice, or unintended poor medical outcome.
702.2. . The Secretary will appoint a fifteen (15) member task force whose objective is to create a CALTCHA No-Fault Compensation Program to manage the California Patient Compensation Fund. That Program shall be fully operational within two years of passage of this Act. This Task Force will meet monthly until the CALTCHA no-fault system is fully operational.
702.3. The California Patient Compensation Fund, under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary, shall compensate validated plaintiffs’ claims, based on a formula established by the Secretary, advised by the California Professional & Technical Advisory Board, and the CALTCHA Trust Fund Board.
702.4. All licensed health care professionals delivering health care services will pay a fair and reasonable monthly premium into the Compensation Fund, which will be used to pay injured Californians for pain and suffering, loss of employment, and other injuries to life and limb, as the result of either a litigated medical malpractice claim or claims settled at certified California Compensation Dispute Resolution Centers located in maximal proximity to plaintiffs homes and staffed by a California Claims Arbitration Board. In addition, the State of California and Philanthropic organizations may provide additional funding to the CALTCHA Claims Fund.
702.5. Plaintiffs may elect to have medical malpractice claims reviewed and arbitrated by a California Claims Arbitration Board comprised of physicians, lawyers, and conflict resolution specialists situated at a California Compensation Dispute Resolution Center. The Arbitration Board must reach a compensation decision within six (6) months of a claim’s submission.
702.5.1. . Appealing the Decision of the Dispute Resolution Panel: The plaintiff or defendant can appeal the first decision of the litigated claim by petitioning the Appellate Medical Malpractice Claims Court, which would have the final decision regarding all plaintiff malpractice claims and compensation. The Court must review all appeals
702.6. All malpractice and related claims shall be compiled into a CALTCHA database that follows the approach of the federal Institute of Medicine, and the Office of the Secretary houses that. That database shall be available for researchers studying medical errors and care teams in hospitals endeavoring to practice better medicine. In addition, regular reports on malpractice and related claims shall be provided to the Secretary of Health and to the formal peer review systems of relevant health professional associations.
702.7.. Plaintiffs fill out two-page CALTCHA medical malpractice claims applications at no cost; these can be downloaded from the CALTCHA Website or obtained at libraries or Post Offices and may be sent electronically or by mail to Claims Arbitration Board.
702.8. . Any plaintiff may elect to have malpractice claims adjudicated by traditional civil courts in California or may bring them before a California Claims Arbitration Board described in this Section of the Act.
703.1. Whistleblower Protection: No medical provider, employer, or other entity shall retaliate against any whistleblower based on Federal rules and protections. Retaliatory measures taken by any person against a whistleblower may result in fines or imprisonment as determined by a rule promulgated by the Secretary.
703.2. Establishment of a Whistleblower Hotline: The Secretary will set up a 1-800 Safety and Quality hotline number, app, online web form, and other applicable means of communication so that patients, consumers, health care providers, and the residents of California can anonymously communicate complaints, ideas, and other messages or whistleblower-type concerns to their local health officer, the Secretary, and the Board.