Health Commission approves ZSFG bylaws change to allow emergency privileges for out‑of‑system clinicians

The San Francisco Health Commission approved revisions to Zuckerberg San Francisco General’s medical staff bylaws that add a mechanism for granting emergency privileges to outside clinicians in urgent clinical situations.

Claire Horton, chief of staff at Zuckerberg San Francisco General, told commissioners the amendment clarifies an existing practice and provides a process by which the chief of staff may grant short‑term emergency privileges to an outside qualified clinician when a patient faces a life‑threatening condition and no on‑staff clinician is privileged to perform the required procedure. "A good example of this might be ECMO," Horton said, referring to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, "where we actually don't have someone at ZSFG, but there are very qualified people at the university, and we would want to be able to take advantage of that relationship."

The rules and regulations were also clarified to emphasize that some operative reports and critical notes should be written immediately (with signature within five days) so that receiving teams have the information they need when a patient transfers to the ICU or another floor.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the scope of the emergency privileges and the existing provisions for handing over care to privileged staff once they arrive. The commission approved the changes by voice vote; there was no public comment recorded against the bylaws change at the meeting.

Next steps: The bylaws revisions were adopted by the commission and will be incorporated into ZSFG medical staff policies.