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Doctor Weber Pearson presses SB 32 to create time‑and‑distance standards for labor‑and‑delivery units
Summary
SB 32 would require regulators to develop time‑and‑distance standards for labor‑and‑delivery units so health plans must document contracting efforts and network adequacy for delivery facilities, supporters said; plans and some stakeholders argued closures stem from workforce, birth‑rate and facility economics rather than contracting and cautioned against administrative requirements that do not create capacity.
Sen. Dr. Weber Pearson presented SB 32 to require the Department of Health Care Services, the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to run a formal, stakeholder process and then adopt time‑and‑distance standards for perinatal units (labor and delivery). The senator argued that explicit L&D standards would bring perinatal services into the network adequacy framework that already governs other provider types and could pressure plans to contract with hospitals that maintain labor‑and‑delivery capacity.
Clinical and hospital witnesses including an OB‑GYN and the California Medical Association supported the bill as a targeted tool to…
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