EMERGENCY ORDERS; PATIENT VISITATION                                                    S.B. 450:

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 450 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Senator Jim Stamas

Committee:  Health Policy and Human Services

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Public Health Code to prohibit the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) or a local health officer from issuing an emergency order that prohibited or limited a patient representative from visiting a patient or a resident in a qualified health care facility or prohibited or limited a qualified health care facility from implementing or imposing reasonable safety measures during a patient representative visit.

Under Section 2253 of the Code, if the Director of the DHHS determines that control of an epidemic is necessary to protect the public health, he or she by emergency order may prohibit the gathering of people for any purpose and may establish procedures to be followed during the epidemic to ensure continuation of essential public health services and enforcement of health laws. Emergency procedures are not limited to the Code. Section 2453 extends this authority to a local health official under the same circumstances.

The bill would prohibit the Director or a local health officer from issuing an emergency order under Sections 2253 or 2453, respectively, that did either of the following:

-- Prohibited or otherwise limited a patient representative from visiting a patient or resident in a qualified health care facility; however, the order could limit the number of patient representatives who could visit a patient or resident in a facility at one time.

-- Prohibited or otherwise limited a qualified health care facility from implementing a reasonable safety measure before or during a patient representative's visit to a patient or resident in the facility, including prescreening or testing a patient representative, imposing a visit duration on a patient representative, restricting the number of patient representatives who could visit at one time, and requiring a patient representative to preschedule a visit.

MCL 333.2253 & 333.2453                                      Legislative Analyst:  Stephen Jackson

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.

Date Completed:  6-1-21                                                 Fiscal Analyst:  Ellyn Ackerman

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.