Hospitals: employee identification.

Assembly Member Patterson's hospital employee identification measure establishes new requirements for name badges worn by staff who interact with patients at general acute care and psychiatric hospitals in California. The legislation requires hospitals to implement policies ensuring all patient-facing employees wear identification tags displaying their vocational classification or license status in 18-point type or larger.

The bill provides hospitals flexibility in how employee names appear on badges, allowing four options: full first and last names, first name with last initial, first initial with last name, or either first or last name alone. This approach aims to balance professional identification needs with employee privacy and safety concerns. Hospitals may exempt staff from wearing identification tags when necessary to protect employee safety.

This measure builds upon existing professional licensing requirements for healthcare practitioners while creating uniform standards specifically for hospital settings. The State Department of Public Health, which currently oversees hospital licensing and regulation, would be responsible for ensuring facilities comply with the new identification policy requirements. While the legislation creates additional compliance obligations for hospitals, it explicitly states that no state reimbursement will be required for local agencies or school districts affected by these changes.