CA Diversion Program Changes

Nurses Recovery

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Specializes in ER.

The recent CA BRN changes have been increasingly mentioned in public comments at BRN meetings.  What the heck am I referring to?

The CA BRN diversion program has recently made changes to their rules on nurse participants without warning or explanation.  If you are currently on diversion (formerly known as intervention) this will affect you.

In recent BRN meetings, which are generally open to the public, portions are closed to the public for confidentiality reasons, nurses, lawyers and BRN support group moderators have been speaking out about changes to the diversion program. 

Nurses who were months, weeks or days away from completing their diversion programs are being told that they must work a minimum of 6 months passing narcotics before they will be considered safe to complete the program.  Before this recent rule change which purportedly began around December, nurses in early 2023 were informed that THEY would not be released from the diversion program unless they worked a minimum of 6 months in an approved RN role.  

Many nurses joined the Diversion program prior to November 2023 when these rules were not in effect.  These nurses were not grandfathered into their contracts and many nurses were presented new contracts with no options but to accept the new terms of the BRN's contract or risk immediate removal from the program and start at the beginning of a probation process after months or years of compliance with the diversion program run by Maximus. 

If you are currently in diversion, or you have previously completed the diversion program, please watch the archived BRN meetings since December. 

The archived meetings can be accessed at https://www.RN.ca.gov/consumers/webcasts.shtml.

I highly suggest you watch the BRN meeting on February 28.  There were many complaints brought up with the nursing board. 

You can find the dates of upcoming BRN meetings at https://www.RN.ca.gov/consumers/meetings.shtml#boardcomm.

This issue will tentatively be an agenda line item discussed at the May BRN meeting. 

The public is allowed to attend all open sessions of BRN meetings. 

Please share this in your BRN Nursing Support groups and encourage every diversion nurse and support group moderator you know to attend future meetings.

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Specializes in Mental health, Critical Care, Nurse Educator du.

Can someone provide clarification on what the "diversion" program is? I'm very confused by the terminology when it comes to CA's programs. Which one is run by Maximus? 

How are the programs different? If you've not been disciplined, but have gone into a program voluntarily, is it a diversion program? I  can't find this information on the BRN website.

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Specializes in ER.
Quickstepper said:

Can someone provide clarification on what the "diversion" program is? I'm very confused by the terminology when it comes to CA's programs. Which one is run by Maximus? 

How are the programs different? If you've not been disciplined, but have gone into a program voluntarily, is it a diversion program? I  can't find this information on the BRN website.

Diversion AKA Intervention AKA Alternative to Discipline

This is the program a nurse can volunteer to join. The main benefit is you do not have a public record of an administrative charge against your license such as alcohol use disorder, a mental illness or drug use disorder.  You can not work for at least a year and must undergo inpatient or outpatient hospitalization and anywhere from 52-150 mandated random drug tests a year.  You have a case manager and restrictions and actions you must follow in order to keep your anonymity and complete the program. They make you sign a contract but the BRN does not have to sign the contract and can make changes anytime they wish.  There is no requirement for the board to release you in a timely manner, however they say you will remain in diversion until they release you for 3-5 years. You must work a minimum of 6 months with narcotics to be released from diversion. The BRN stated this requirement is proposed, however it is currently being imposed, with no warning to nurses who had as little as one day to be released. 

Probation is run by the DA but the BRN ultimately decides what charges will be levied and what restrictions will affect your license.  It can also include inpatient or outpatient hospitalization, random drug charges, a fine up to $20,000, and you must work or your license gets suspended.  It is a public administrative charge against your license that will remain publicly accessible online for 10 years. After 10 years, the complaint is no longer available online however, a flag will be noted on you license that a previous action was placed on your license and you can call the BRN to access anyone's complaint after 10 years so it will always be available publicly.  The probation period has a legally binding term end date if you follow all the requirements listed.  The BRN does not have to follow the judge or DA's recommendation and can choose what ultimately happens to the nurse. 

Hope this helps explain the differences. 

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Yep. I'm one of the unfortunate nurse affected by this change. Was supposed to be done in April 

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This is wild. I almost understand but I have no desire to ever work around narcotics again? I don't think 6 months would make it any safer for me? My job in monitoring had no narcotics so I would have been SOL.

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Yeah it's completely ridiculous. I'm so bummed out about it. I've had a counter on my phone for the last over 3 years and now when I get out is suspended indefinitely. Keep in mind I've been 100% compliant during this time 

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