2005 California Business and Professions Code Sections 2198-2198.1 Physicians Act of 2003

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE
SECTION 2198-2198.1

2198.  (a) This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Cultural and Linguistic Competency of Physicians Act of 2003.  The
cultural and linguistic physician competency program is hereby
established and shall be operated by local medical societies of the
California Medical Association and shall be monitored by the Division
of Licensing.
   (b) This program shall be a voluntary program for all interested
physicians.  As a primary objective, the program shall consist of
educational classes which shall be designed to teach physicians the
following:
   (1) A foreign language at the level of proficiency that initially
improves their ability to communicate with non-English speaking
patients.
   (2) A foreign language at the level of proficiency that eventually
enables direct communication with the non-English speaking patients.
   (3) Cultural beliefs and practices that may impact patient health
care practices and allow physicians to incorporate this knowledge in
the diagnosis and treatment of patients who are not from the
predominate culture in California.
   (c) The program shall operate through local medical societies and
shall be developed to address the ethnic language minority groups of
interest to local medical societies.
   (d) In dealing with Spanish language and cultural practices of
Mexican immigrant communities, the cultural and linguistic training
program shall be developed with direct input from physician groups in
Mexico who serve the same immigrant population in Mexico.  A similar
approach may be used for any of the languages and cultures that are
taught by the program or appropriate ethnic medical societies may be
consulted for the development of these programs.
   (e) Training programs shall be based and developed on the
established knowledge of providers already serving target populations
and shall be formulated in collaboration with the California Medical
Association, the Division of Licensing, and other California-based
ethnic medical societies.
   (f) Programs shall include standards that identify the degree of
competency for participants who successfully complete independent
parts of the course of instruction.
   (g) Programs shall seek accreditation by the Accreditation Council
for Continuing Medical Education.
   (h) The Division of Licensing shall convene a workgroup including,
but not limited to, representatives of affected patient populations,
medical societies engaged in program delivery, and community clinics
to perform the following functions:
   (1) Evaluation of the progress made in the achievement of the
intent of this article.
   (2) Determination of the means by which achievement of the intent
of this article can be enhanced.
   (3) Evaluation of the reasonableness and the consistency of the
standards developed by those entities delivering the program.
   (4) Determination and recommendation of the credit to be given to
participants who successfully complete the identified programs.
Factors to be considered in this determination shall include, at a
minimum, compliance with requirements for continuing medical
education and eligibility for increased rates of reimbursement under
Medi-Cal, the Healthy Families Program, and health maintenance
organization contracts.
   (i) Funding shall be provided by fees charged to physicians who
elect to take these educational classes and any other funds that
local medical societies may secure for this purpose.
   (j) A survey for language minority patients shall be developed and
distributed by local medical societies, to measure the degree of
satisfaction with physicians who have taken the educational classes
on cultural and linguistic competency provided under this section.
Local medical societies shall also develop an evaluation survey for
physicians to assess the quality of educational or training programs
on cultural and linguistic competency.  This information shall be
shared with the workgroup established by the Division of Licensing.
2198.1.  For purposes of this article, "cultural and linguistic
competency" means cultural and linguistic abilities that can be
incorporated into therapeutic and medical evaluation and treatment,
including, but not limited to, the following:
   (a) Direct communication in the patient-client primary language.
   (b) Understanding and applying the roles that culture, ethnicity,
and race play in diagnosis, treatment, and clinical care.
   (c) Awareness of how the health care providers and patients
attitudes, values, and beliefs influence and impact professional and
patient relations.


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