TRSA Succeeds At Reforming California Title 22

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — October 5, 2018 — TRSA’s efforts to reform California’s Title 22 code, which regulates the laundering of healthcare linen, took the final step to passage when California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the legislation into law. Gov. Brown signed the bill on Sept. 20.

The legislation, AB 2679, sponsored by Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), will give TRSA operators flexibility in processing healthcare linens to use lower wash temperatures and shorten the wash time.

“This bill is a great opportunity for the healthcare sector of the linen, uniform and facility services industry,” said Kevin Schwalb, TRSA’s vice president of government relations. “Operators will soon have flexibility in laundering healthcare linens. The final version allows for much quicker implementation of the flexibility than the original language.”

More specifically, the new law would, on or before Jan. 1, 2020, require each general acute care hospital and acute psychiatric hospital, including those facilities that use a medical laundry service provider, to adopt and implement a linen laundry processing policy that is consistent and in accordance with the most recent infection control guidelines and standards developed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

“Jan. 1, 2020, is the deadline for developing new laundering policies,” Schwalb said. “The sooner facilities can adopt new policies, the sooner operators will have flexibility in processing linens. This would not have occurred if it was not for those individuals that took time out of their schedules to attend the California Legislative Conference to tell the industry’s story.”

Posted October 6, 2018

Source: TRSA

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