Breast Density Bill Re-Introduced

Sen. Simitian (D-San Jose) held a press conference yesterday to announce that his SB 1538 will be amended to insert the provisions of his previously vetoed bill on breast density reporting to women.  You will recall that last year Governor Brown vetoed SB 791 by Senator Simitian that would have required that women determined to have dense breast tissue during screening mammography be given specific  information in their MQSA letter regarding the risks of dense breast tissue, possible benefits of other screening procedures, and that they should discuss this with their physician.

It is notable that SB 1538 has a long list of co-authors from both the Senate and Assembly providing strong indication that the bill will be passed again this year. It will be referred to the Senate Health Committee for hearing in April. The CRS moved to a neutral position on his prior bill in an effort to work toward amendments that improve the specific content of the notice, potential liability for failure to have provided the notice in the past,  and delayed implementation to allow the radiology community to make the appropriate changes on letters. The Legislature last year overwhelming supported the prior bill..

CT Radiation Safety Clean-Up Legislation

The CRS continue to work for the passage of AB 510 ( Lowenthal), which would make some technical change tp to the CT and radiation safety law that takes effect on July 1, 2012. Those changes include;

• Exempting CT studies for radiation therapy planning from the dose reporting or accreditation requirement.
• Exempting any dedicated CT unit use for image guidance from the requirement to be accredited.
• Clarifying that no reporting of misadministration is necessary when there is CT exposure to an adjacent organ during a procedure. The intent is to report a CT of the wrong anatomic area but not overlapping areas or adjacent organs.
• We continue to seek revisions to the current language on recording of dose in the radiology report or inclusion of the protocol page in the report. Some have interpreted that provision to require that the radiologist needs to dictate that dose into their interpretative report. We do not believe that the current language requires that but will endeavor to clarify that issue.

AB 510 has passed the Assembly and will be heard in the Senate Health Committee on April 11th.

Bill on RT Injection of Contrast Material

The CRS is sponsoring SB 1199 ( Dutton) regarding the training and scope of practice for RTs to inject contrast material. Existing law allow an RT to inject contrast material into an upper extremity provided they obtain certain training.

That training includes performing 10 venipunctures. Last year the RHB sent a letter to all RT schools indicating that those 10 venipunctures must be performed on humans. That is an issue for some schools who might use phantom simulators due to liability concerns or shortage of humans for this purpose. 

SB 1199 would make  two changes (1) to specify that training including performing 10 venipunctures can be done on a human or phantom simulator, and (2) that the RT could be allowed to administer other substances to insure the patency of the IV cannula according to hospital or imaging facility protocol. The latter provision would clarify that injection of a saline solution to flush the line would be specifically permitted.

SB 1199 will also be heard in the Senate Health Committee on April 11, 2012.