4811.
For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:(a) “Authorized user” means a person authorized by the authority to submit information to, or to receive information from, the POLST eRegistry, including health care providers, as defined in Section 4781, and their designees.
(b) “POLST” means a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment form that fulfills the requirements, in any format, of Section 4780.
(c) “POLST eRegistry” means the registry established pursuant to this part to make electronic, in addition to other modes of submission and transmission, POLST information available to authorized
users.
4812.
(a) The California Health and Human Services Agency shall establish a POLST eRegistry, in consultation with stakeholders, to operate a statewide electronic registry system for the purpose of collecting a patient’s POLST information received from a physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or the designee of a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, and disseminating the information to an authorized user.(b) The agency shall adopt regulations for the operation of the POLST eRegistry in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), and shall hold at least one public hearing regarding the proposed regulations. The
regulations shall include, but not be limited to, standards and procedures regarding all of the following:
(1) The means by which initial or subsequent POLST information may be submitted to the POLST eRegistry, which shall include a method for electronic delivery of this information and the use of legally sufficient electronic signatures. Submitted information may include new, modified, updated, or voided POLST information.
(2) Appropriate and timely methods by which the information in the POLST eRegistry may be disseminated to an authorized user, including a method for electronic access.
(3) Standards and procedures for verifying the identity of an authorized user.
(4) Standards and procedures to ensure the accuracy of, and to appropriately protect the
confidentiality of, POLST information submitted to the POLST eRegistry.
(c) The agency shall set the following deadlines for implementation of the POLST eRegistry:
(1) Commencing January 1, 2024, an authorized user shall ensure that the most current version of all POLST forms they have signed have been submitted to the POLST eRegistry.
(2) Commencing on January 1, 2025, an electronic version of a POLST shall be the only acceptable format to submit a form to the POLST eRegistry. This section does not prohibit an authorized user from printing out a paper copy of a POLST form for a patient to have on hand, upon request by a patient or the patient’s legally recognized decisionmaker.
(3) On or before January 1, 2026, the agency shall incorporate the Advance
Health Care Directive Registry, established pursuant to Part 5 (commencing with Section 4800), into the POLST eRegistry.