Existing law establishes the Medical Board of California within the Department of Consumer Affairs to enforce the licensing and regulatory provisions relating to physicians and surgeons. Existing law requires a physician and surgeon primarily responsible for providing a patient an annual gynecological examination to provide that patient, during the annual examination in layperson’s language and in a language understood by the patient, a standardized summary containing a description of the symptoms and appropriate methods of diagnoses for gynecological cancers. Existing law makes a failure to provide that information punishable by citation and an administrative fine.

This bill, on or before July 1, 2020, would require the board, in coordination with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the California Medical Association, and the California Academy of Family Physicians, to develop an informational pamphlet for patients undergoing pelvic examinations that includes specified information, including what pelvic and other relevant exams are and how they are performed and privacy expectations for patients. The bill would require the board to make the informational pamphlet available for use by licensees performing pelvic examinations, as specified.

The bill, commencing one month after the board makes the informational pamphlet available, would require a licensee, as defined, to provide a patient with the informational pamphlet before a patient’s first pelvic examination. The bill would require the licensee to obtain a signed acknowledgment that the patient has received the informational pamphlet and maintain the signed acknowledgment as part of the patient’s medical record. The bill would make a violation of the bill’s provisions subject to a citation and an administrative fine.