Although this law has been around for years, practices are reminded of the provisions of the Cosmetic and Outpatient Surgery Patient Protection Act¹. The provisions apply to all scheduled medical procedures performed outside of an acute-care hospital. This includes those performed in outpatient surgery settings whether they are surgical clinics, certified ambulatory surgery centers, or physician offices.

Practices or surgery centers performing these procedures are required, in part, to report to the California Medical Board (within 15 days) any patient death, or transfer to an Emergency Department or hospital for treatment exceeding 24 hours as a result of a scheduled outpatient procedure.

For access to a copy of the report of a patient death, click here.  

For access to a copy of the report of a patient transfer to an Emergency Department, click here.

In performing these procedures, heavy sedation and/or general anesthesia may be given. In those cases, additionally:

• Outpatient settings must have written discharge criteria;
   
• The outpatient setting must have a minimum of two (2) staff persons on the premise, one of whom is a licensed physician/surgeon or a licensed health care professional with current ACLS certification as long as a patient is present who has not been discharged from supervised care.

¹ The California Cosmetic and Outpatient Surgery Patient Protection Act became effective on January 1, 2000.