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REFERENCE TITLE: crisis standards of care; requirements |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-fifth Legislature First Regular Session 2021
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SB 1374 |
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Introduced by Senators Barto: Borrelli, Fann, Gowan, Gray, Leach, Livingston, Mesnard, Petersen; Representatives Bolick, Fillmore, Griffin, John, Kaiser, Kavanagh, Parker, Roberts, Wilmeth
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AN ACT
Amending Title 36, chapter 6, article 9, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 36-791; relating to public health emergencies.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 36, chapter 6, article 9, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 36-791, to read:
36-791. Crisis standards of care plan; requirements; modification of existing plans
A. If the department of health services adopts or establishes a crisis standards of care plan to address resource allocation when the demand for certain health care services exceeds the supply of necessary resources, the following tenets and requirements apply to the plan:
1. The allocation of health care resource decisions shall be made on the basis of valuing all life.
2. A Patient or a patient's health care decision maker has the right to make the patient's health care choices.
3. Health care providers may only consider the risk of imminent mortality.
4. A patient may not be denied medical care based on stereotypes, assessments of the patient's quality of life or judgment about the patient's relative worth based on the person's age or the presence or absence of a disability.
5. Health care providers are prohibited from doing any of the following when allocating treatment resources:
(a) Using quality of life judgments.
(b) Considering long‑term mortality and long‑term life expectancy.
(c) Using resource intensity and duration of need due to disability or age as a criterion.
6. The plan must require individual assessments to be made on the basis of the best available objective medical evidence and not on assumptions about a patient's perceived health, preexisting conditions or medical diagnosis.
7. The plan must Require reasonable modifications to ensure that patients with disabilities and the aged have equal access to medical care, including communication, emergency messaging, mobility issues and religious accommodations, and reasonable modifications to clinical scoring instruments and assessment tools to ensure that disability‑related characteristics that are unrelated to short‑term mortality risk do not worsen a patient's score.
8. The plan must require notice to be given to a patient or a patient's family or health care decision maker regarding the right to appeal any triage decision and the details of the appeals process.
B. A health care provider or health care institution staff member may not pressure or coerce a patient or the patient's health care decision maker to do either of the following:
1. Sign a do‑not‑resuscitate order.
2. Make a particular health care treatment decision.
C. the department of health services shall modify any existing crisis standards of care plan within sixty days after the effective date of this section to comply with the requirements of this section.
Sec. 2. Emergency
This act is an emergency measure that is necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety and is operative immediately as provided by law.