California Business and Professions Code 3524.5 – (a) The board may require a licensee to complete continuing …
(a) The board may require a licensee to complete continuing education as a condition of license renewal under Section 3523 or 3524. The board shall not require more than 50 hours of continuing education every two years. The board shall, as it deems appropriate, accept certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), or another qualified certifying body, as determined by the board, as evidence of compliance with continuing education requirements.
(b) (1) The board shall adopt regulations to require that, on and after January 1, 2022, all continuing education courses for licensees under this chapter contain curriculum that includes the understanding of implicit bias.
Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 3524.5
- Board: means the Physician Assistant Board. See California Business and Professions Code 3501
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- license: means license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Section 1000 or 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.7
- Licensee: means any person authorized by a license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.8
- Regulations: means the rules and regulations as set forth in Division 13. See California Business and Professions Code 3501
- Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs, unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Business and Professions Code 15
(2) Beginning January 1, 2023, continuing education providers shall ensure compliance with paragraph (1).
(3) Beginning January 1, 2023, the board shall audit continuing education providers at least once every five years to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, and shall withhold or rescind approval from any provider that is in violation of the regulatory requirements.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (b), a continuing education course dedicated solely to research or other issues that does not include a direct patient care component is not required to contain curriculum that includes implicit bias in the practice of physician assistants.
(d) In order to satisfy the requirements of subdivision (a), continuing education courses shall address at least one or a combination of the following:
(1) Examples of how implicit bias affects perceptions and treatment decisions of physician assistants, leading to disparities in health outcomes.
(2) Strategies to address how unintended biases in decisionmaking may contribute to health care disparities by shaping behavior and producing differences in medical treatment along lines of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 417, Sec. 4. (AB 241) Effective January 1, 2020.)