(a) To qualify for a license under this chapter, an applicant shall satisfy all of the following:

(1) Be of good moral character. If the applicant is a franchise, franchisee, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, company, political subdivision of the state, or governmental agency, the person in charge of the hospice for which the application for a license is made shall be of good moral character.

(2) Demonstrate the ability of the applicant to comply with this chapter and any rules and regulations promulgated under this chapter by the department.

(3) File a completed application with the department that was prescribed and furnished pursuant to Section 1748.

(b) (1) A hospice agency shall have an administrator, administrator designee, director of patient care services, director of patient care services designee, and medical director or contracted medical director, and shall submit to the department all of the following information for each individual on an initial application:

(A) An HS 215A form or its successor form.

(B) A résumé.

(C) A list of all hospice agencies the individual is currently serving as an administrator, administrator designee, director of patient care services, director of patient care services designee, or medical director or contracted medical director.

(2) In addition to the information required pursuant to paragraph (1), a hospice agency shall submit to the department information on whether its medical director, or contracted medical director, is certified as a hospice medical director according to the requirements established by the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board, or certified in hospice and palliative medicine according to the requirements established by a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, or by the American Osteopathic Association, or an equivalent organization as determined by the department.

(3) A hospice agency shall notify the department of any change in the administrator, administrator designee, director of patient care services, director of patient care services designee, or medical director or contracted medical director by submitting the information described in paragraphs (1) and (2) within 10 business days of the change.

(4) All hospice agencies shall report to the department the name of the agency’s administrator, administrator designee, director of patient care services, director of patient care services designee, and medical director or contracted medical director by submitting the information required by paragraphs (1) and (2), no later than March 31, 2023.

(c) (1) The department shall verify the status of professional licensure for hospice agency management personnel.

(2) The department may also verify the following:

(A) Association of hospice agency management personnel listed on the licensing application with the hospice agency.

(B) Work history of hospice agency management personnel.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, verification may include contacting the hospice agency personnel or previous employers by telephone.

(d) In order for a person, political subdivision of the state, or other governmental agency to be licensed as a hospice agency, it shall satisfy the definition of a hospice contained in Section 1746, and also provide, or make provision for, the following basic services:

(1) Skilled nursing services.

(2) Social services/counseling services.

(3) Medical direction.

(4) Bereavement services.

(5) Volunteer services.

(6) Inpatient care arrangements.

(7) Home health aide services.

(e) The services required to be provided pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be provided in compliance with the “Standards for Quality Hospice Care, 2003,” as available from the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, until the department adopts regulations establishing alternative standards pursuant to subdivision (h).

(f) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the applicant shall demonstrate and provide evidence of an unmet need of hospice services in the geographic area that a hospice agency would serve.

(2) An applicant for a hospice agency change of ownership need not comply with paragraph (1) for the previously approved service area if the license has been continually held by the previous licensee for five years and one of the following conditions are met:

(A) The hospice agency has previously qualified for licensure after demonstrating and providing evidence of unmet need of hospice services in the hospice agency’s geographic area.

(B) The hospice agency can demonstrate it is meeting a need for hospice services.

(3) If the hospice agency’s approved geographic service area will change upon the change in ownership, the new applicant for licensure shall demonstrate unmet need for hospice services for any new service area.

(g) (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, to meet the unique needs of the community, licensed hospice agencies may provide, in addition to hospice services authorized in this chapter, any of the following preliminary services for any person in need of those services, as determined by the physician and surgeon, if any, in charge of the care of a patient, or at the request of the patient or family:

(A) Preliminary palliative care consultations.

(B) Preliminary counseling and care planning.

(C) Preliminary grief and bereavement services.

(2) Preliminary services authorized pursuant to this subdivision may be provided concurrently with curative treatment to a person who does not have a terminal prognosis or who has not elected to receive hospice services only by licensed and certified hospices. These services shall be subject to the schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program, pursuant to subdivision (w) of § 14132 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(h) The department may adopt regulations establishing standards for any or all of the services required to be provided under subdivision (d). The regulations of the department adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall supersede the standards referenced in subdivision (e) to the extent the regulations duplicate or replace those standards.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 797, Sec. 2. (AB 2673) Effective January 1, 2023.)