(a)  The director shall authorize the University of California to conduct a pilot project pursuant to this section for a period not to extend 24 months beyond the date that funding is available for expenditure for the pilot project. The purpose of the pilot project is to test the feasibility of permitting family day care home providers and child day care center staff to undertake gastric tube feeding or the administration of medication through nebulizers under the conditions and with the precautions specified in subdivision (c).

(b)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon authorization from the director pursuant to subdivision (a), child day care center and family day care home licensees and staff selected by the principal investigator of the pilot project, to be known as the Access Project, or his or her staff shall be authorized to undertake gastrostomy tube feeding or the administration of medication through nebulizers on children enrolled in their facilities.

(c)  For the purposes of the pilot project, the following precautions shall be taken:

(1)  The principal investigator selected by the University of California shall be a person who is licensed to practice medicine in the state and is experienced in supervising programs in which nonmedical personnel perform minor health procedures.

(2)  The availability of, and interaction with, experienced nurses with appropriate experience, as determined by the principal investigator, shall be part of the study design.

(3)  Only children with explicit and signed permission from their personal physicians shall be included in the pilot project.

(d)  The University of California shall notify the department of any family day care provider or child day care center staff selected to participate in the training and procedures described in subdivision (b) prior to undertaking these procedures.

(e)  Eighteen months after the date funding for the proposed pilot became available for expenditure, the principal investigator of the Access Project shall submit an evaluation of the project to the Assembly Human Services Committee and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature. In preparing the evaluation, the Access Project shall consult with representatives from the State Department of Health Services, the department, family day care associations, family resource centers and networks, the child care center provider community, and child care resource and referral agencies. The principal investigator of the Access Project shall consult with the department to determine the additional data necessary for the department to make use of the evaluation. The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1)  The number of family day care home providers who participated in the project, with information identifying the procedure the provider was trained in and his or her licensed capacity and actual enrollment.

(2)  The number of child day care center staff who participated in the project, with information identifying the procedure the staff was trained in, the licensed capacity and actual enrollment of the program, and the number of staff overall.

(3)  The number of children who were able to be served in licensed child care programs with trained family day care home providers or child day care center staff.

(4)  Overall impressions, problems encountered, and satisfaction with the pilot project by providers and staff.

(5)  Overall impressions, problems encountered, and satisfaction with the pilot project by parents and children.

(6)  Overall impressions, problems encountered, and satisfaction with the pilot project by licensing staff.

(7)  Overall impressions, problems encountered, and satisfaction with the pilot project by those providing the training, backup, and monitoring, of a nonlicensing nature.

(8)  Input from providers, staff, trainers, parents, and children as appropriate about the effectiveness of the pilot project.

(9)  An assessment of the adequacy of the training, including curriculum and core competencies for the health care procedures taught; teaching methods used in the project; and the quality of health care procedures provided, including errors and incidents.

(10)  The impact on health and safety from engaging in these procedures on the child needing the procedure and the other children and staff in the program, where measurable.

(11)  The impact of the pilot project on increasing the ability of child care programs to serve children with special health needs.

(12)  The number of nurse visits required for initial placement in the child care setting.

(13)  The need for a nurse with appropriate experience, as determined by the principal investigator, after placement is arranged and initiated as an adjunct to support each child’s own physician or physicians.

(14)  The cost of providing the training and services.

(15)  Recommendations as to whether the pilot project should be expanded to enable family day care home providers and child day care center staff throughout the state to undertake these procedures and under what specific conditions, with accompanying rationales.

(16)  Recommendations for other possible procedures to be authorized in a pilot project with the reasons for those recommendations.

(17)  The cost of the care provided in the project, the likely cost of the care if performed by the child day care licensees or staff pursuant to the project, and the cost for provision of that care by the child’s current care providers, specifically including the cost of nursing services.

(18)  The number of Medi-Cal recipients participating in the project.

(f)  No provision of this section applies to the Regents of the University of California unless the Regents, by appropriate resolution, make it applicable. It is the intent of the Legislature that the project be funded from non-General Fund resources.

(g)  This section shall remain in effect only until two years from the date funding is available for expenditure for the pilot project established pursuant to this section and as of that date shall be repealed, unless a later enacted statute, which is chaptered before that date, deletes or extends that date. The director shall notify the Chief Clerk of the Assembly in writing of the date this section is repealed and the Chief Clerk shall publish the notification in the Assembly Journal.

(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 124, Sec. 51. Effective January 1, 1997. Repealed on date prescribed by its own provisions.)