Health care facilities must require smoke filtering by January 2028

Covered health care facilities must adopt and carry out policies requiring equipment that captures and filters surgical smoke. The requirement covers hospitals, limited service hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, freestanding medical facilities, and other institutions defined in state law as “related institutions,” when they perform surgery. The equipment must capture and filter smoke where it starts, before it reaches the eyes or breathing passages of people in the room. The policies must require this equipment during procedures that may produce smoke from devices that generate energy. The law took effect October 1, 2026. Facilities must adopt and carry out the required policies by January 1, 2028.