California § 1862 - The Emergency Medical Services Authority shall establish a POLST eRegistry, in co

§ 1862. The Emergency Medical Services Authority shall establish a POLST eRegistry, in co

(a) The Emergency Medical Services Authority shall establish a POLST eRegistry, in consultation with the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California and other pertinent stakeholders, to operate a statewide electronic registry system for the purpose of collecting a patient’s POLST information received from a physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or the designee of a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, and disseminating the information to an authorized user. (b) The authority shall adopt regulations for the operation of the POLST eRegistry and shall hold at least one public hearing regarding the proposed regulations. The regulations shall include, but not be limited to, standards and procedures regarding all of the following: (1) The means by which initial or subsequent POLST information may be submitted to the POLST eRegistry, which shall include a method for electronic delivery of this information and the use of legally sufficient electronic signatures. Submitted information may include new, modified, updated, or voided POLST information. (2) Methods by which the information in the POLST eRegistry may be disseminated to an authorized user, including a method for electronic access. (3) Standards and procedures for verifying the identity of an authorized user. (4) Standards and procedures to ensure the accuracy of, and to appropriately protect the confidentiality of, POLST information submitted to the POLST eRegistry, consistent with state and federal privacy laws. (c) The authority shall implement the POLST eRegistry in conjunction with CEDRS. The authority shall ensure all of the following requirements are met and that the timing is consistent with the CEDRS project development timeline: (1) An authorized user shall ensure that the most current version of all POLST forms they have signed have been submitted to the POLST eRegistry. (2) An electronic version of a POLST shall be the only acceptable format to submit a form to the POLST eRegistry. This section does not prohibit an authorized user from printing out a paper copy of a POLST form for a patient to have on hand, upon request by a patient or the patient’s legally recognized decisionmaker.