Chief Patron: Marshall R.
Regulation of Outpatient Clinics (language only)

Item 297 #1h

Language
Page 256, after line 31, insert:
"
Out of the general fund appropriation for this item, the State Board of Health, in conjunction with the Board of Medicine, shall develop a program for the licensure, inspection and regulation of women's outpatient surgical clinics and physician offices that perform 25 or more abortions per year.  Regulations developed pursuant to this program shall include the following minimum requirements:  (i) "hospital" shall include any clinic performing 25 or more abortions per year; (ii) any such clinic shall be subject to all of the requirements of this article for outpatient surgical hospitals and the regulations of the Board in the same manner as any other hospital, including any standards, inspections, staffing and laboratory requirements, equipment mandates, or other criteria; (iii) abortions can be performed only by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology certified physicians who are also licensed by the State Board of Medicine to perform abortions in Virginia; (iv) facilities and physician offices performing abortions must have an advance transfer agreement with the nearest hospital having emergency facilities and all women experiencing emergency complications must be transferred by ambulance to that hospital; (v) physicians performing abortions who reside outside the hospital catchment area must have a prior agreement with a local physician with admitting privileges at the above-mentioned hospital and all women who have an abortion must be provided the name and telephone number of this physician prior to their surgery; (vi) as part of the patient consent process, all patients must receive printed instructions detailing the expected symptoms after the abortion, precautions that should be taken, indications of complications that require being seen by a physician, and emergency telephone numbers of the physician and the above-mentioned hospital; (vii) facilities and physician offices performing abortions must conform to the blood-borne pathogens standard of the U. S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention; (viii) patients may not be requested to sign a waiver of liability; (ix) all medical records of the patient must be available to her and to other health care practitioners of her choosing; (x) each facility and applicable physician office will be inspected according to the procedures utilized by the Department of Health in all other outpatient surgical facilities, in compliance with the Code of Virginia; and (xi) all abortions after the first trimester must be performed in licensed clinics in compliance with the Code of Virginia."

Explanation
(This amendment directs the Board of Health to develop a regulatory program for outpatient surgical centers and physicians offices that perform 25 or more abortions per year.)