Title HSC — California Health & Safety Code

No health care service plan contract which covers hospital, medical, or surgical expenses shall be issued, amended, delivered, or renewed in this state on or after January 1, 1981, if it contains any exclusion, reduction, or other limitations, as to coverage, deductibles, or coin…

(a) Every plan shall do all of the following: (1) Establish and maintain a grievance system approved by the department under which enrollees may submit their grievances to the plan. Each system shall provide reasonable procedures in accordance with department regulations that sha…

(a) The grievance system shall require the plan to resolve grievances within 30 days, except as provided in subdivision (c). (b) The grievance system shall include a requirement for expedited plan review of grievances for cases involving an imminent and serious threat to the heal…

(a) Effective July 1, 2003, every plan with an internet website shall provide an online form through its internet website that subscribers or enrollees can use to file with the plan a grievance, as described in Section 1368, online. (b) The internet website shall have an easily a…

(a) A health care service plan that provides coverage for professional mental health services, including a specialized health care service plan that provides coverage for professional mental health services, shall, pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 1368.015, include on its I…

(a) (1) A health care service plan shall provide to enrollees a written or electronic notice regarding the benefits of a behavioral health and wellness screening for children and adolescents 8 to 18 years of age. (2) “Behavioral health and wellness screening” means a screening, t…

(a) The director shall establish and maintain a toll-free telephone number for the purpose of receiving complaints regarding health care service plans regulated by the director. (b) Every health care service plan shall publish the department’s toll-free telephone number, the depa…

(a) The department may require enrollees and subscribers to participate in a plan’s grievance process for up to 30 days before pursuing a grievance through the department or the independent medical review system. However, the department may not impose this waiting period for expe…

(a) The director shall investigate and take enforcement action against plans regarding grievances reviewed and found by the department to involve noncompliance with the requirements of this chapter, including grievances that have been reviewed pursuant to the independent medical …

(a) (1) By enacting this section, which was originally enacted by Assembly Bill 922 (Chapter 552 of the Statutes of 2011), the Legislature recognizes that, because of the enactment of federal health care reform on March 23, 2010, and the implementation of various provisions by Ja…

(a) A plan that denies coverage to an enrollee with a terminal illness, which for the purposes of this section refers to an incurable or irreversible condition that has a high probability of causing death within one year or less, for treatment, services, or supplies deemed experi…

(a) On and after January 1, 2002, every group health care service plan contract, except a specialized health care service plan contract, which is issued, amended, or renewed, shall include a provision for hospice care. (b) The hospice care shall at a minimum be equivalent to hosp…

(a) Every health care service plan that offers coverage for a service that is within the scope of practice of a duly licensed pharmacist shall pay or reimburse the cost of the service performed by a pharmacist at an in-network pharmacy or a pharmacist at an out-of-network pharmac…

(a) A health care service plan shall provide an enrollee who has been displaced or whose health may otherwise be affected by a state of emergency, as declared by the Governor pursuant to Section 8625 of the Government Code, or a health emergency, as declared by the State Public H…

Every plan shall establish procedures to permit subscribers and enrollees to participate in establishing the public policy of the plan. For purposes of this section, public policy means acts performed by a plan or its employees and staff to assure the comfort, dignity, and conven…

Every plan shall establish procedures in accordance with department regulations for continuously reviewing the quality of care, performance of medical personnel, utilization of services and facilities, and costs. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, there shall be no monet…

Nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent a plan from utilizing subcommittees to participate in peer review activities, nor to prevent a plan from delegating the responsibilities required by Section 1370, as it determines to be appropriate, to subcommittees including …

Upon an appeal to the plan of a contested claim, the plan shall refer the claim to the medical director or other appropriately licensed health care provider. This health care provider or the medical director shall review the appeal and, if he or she determines that he or she is c…

(a) Every health care service plan shall provide an external, independent review process to examine the plan’s coverage decisions regarding experimental or investigational therapies for individual enrollees who meet all of the following criteria: (1) (A) The enrollee has a life-t…

(a) An individual or group health care service plan contract that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2020, shall not: (1) Deny a qualified enrollee’s participation in an approved clinical trial. (2) Deny, limit, or impose additional conditions on the coverage o…

(a) (1) A health care service plan, including a specialized health care service plan, shall reimburse a complete claim or portion thereof, whether in state or out of state, as soon as practicable, but no later than 30 calendar days after receipt of the claim by the health care se…

(a) (1) Whenever a health care service plan, including a specialized health care service plan, determines that in reimbursing a claim for provider services an institutional or professional provider has been overpaid, and then notifies the provider in writing through a separate no…

(a) The following definitions shall apply for purposes of this section: (1) (A) “Affirmative consent” means a dental provider’s express consent to opt in or opt out of receiving fee-based payment. Affirmative consent requires a dental provider’s signature. The terms of the affirm…

No health care service plan, including a specialized health care service plan, shall request reimbursement for overpayment or reduce the level of payment to a provider based solely on the allegation that the provider has entered into a contract with any other licensed health care…

If a contract between a health care service plan and a provider requires that the provider accept, as payment from the plan, the lowest payment rate charged by the provider to any patient or third party, this contract provision shall not be deemed to apply to, or take into consid…

A plan, any entity contracting with a plan, and providers are each responsible for their own acts or omissions, and are not liable for the acts or omissions of, or the costs of defending, others. Any provision to the contrary in a contract with providers is void and unenforceable…

On and after January 1, 1994, every group health care service plan that provides hospital, medical, or surgical expense benefits for plan members and their dependents shall authorize and permit assignment of the enrollee’s or subscriber’s right to any reimbursement for health car…

(a) (1) By September 1, 2017, the department shall establish an independent dispute resolution process for the purpose of processing and resolving a claim dispute between a health care service plan and a noncontracting individual health professional for services subject to subdiv…

(a) (1) For services rendered subject to Section 1371.9, effective July 1, 2017, unless otherwise agreed to by the noncontracting individual health professional and the plan, the plan shall reimburse the greater of the average contracted rate or 125 percent of the amount Medicare…

(a) A complaint made by an enrollee to a health care service plan about a delay or denial of a payment of a claim shall be treated as a grievance subject to Section 1368 whether or not the enrollee uses the term “grievance” as part of the complaint. This section does not apply to…

(a) (1) A health care service plan, including a specialized health care service plan, shall reimburse a complete claim or portion thereof, whether in state or out of state, as soon as practicable, but no later than 30 calendar days after receipt of the claim by the health care se…

(a) A health care service plan shall not deny payment of a claim on the basis that the plan, medical group, independent practice association, or other contracting entity did not provide authorization for health care services that were provided in a licensed acute care hospital an…

(a) A health care service plan is prohibited from engaging in an unfair payment pattern, as defined in this section. (b) Consistent with subdivision (a) of Section 1371.39, the director may investigate a health care service plan to determine whether it has engaged in an unfair pa…

(a) The department shall, on or before July 1, 2001, adopt regulations that ensure that plans have adopted a dispute resolution mechanism pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1367. The regulations shall require that any dispute resolution mechanism of a plan is fair, fast, and …

(a) Providers may report to the department through the toll-free provider line, email address, or another method designated by the department, instances in which the provider believes a plan is engaging in an unfair payment pattern. (b) Plans may report to the department through …

(a) A health care service plan that covers hospital, medical, or surgical expenses, or its contracting medical providers, shall provide 24-hour access for enrollees and providers, including, but not limited to, noncontracting hospitals, to obtain timely authorization for medicall…

(a) No health care service plan that provides basic health care services shall require prior authorization or refuse to pay for any ambulance or ambulance transport services, referred to in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 1345, provided to an enrollee as a result of a…

(a) A health care service plan contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, shall establish a process to reimburse for services provided by a community paramedicine program, triage to alternate destination program, or mobile integrated health program. (b) (1) A …

(a) (1) Notwithstanding Section 1367.11, a health care service plan contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2020, shall provide that if an enrollee receives covered services from a noncontracting air ambulance provider, the enrollee shall pay no more than the …

(a) (1) Unless otherwise required by this chapter, a health care service plan contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, shall require an enrollee who receives covered services from a noncontracting ground ambulance provider to pay no more than the same cos…

A health care service plan that authorizes a specific type of treatment by a provider shall not rescind or modify this authorization after the provider renders the health care service in good faith and pursuant to the authorization for any reason, including, but not limited to, t…

(a) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a health care service plan contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2017, shall provide that if an enrollee receives covered services from a contracting health facility at which, or as a result of which, the enrollee …

Subject to the applicable provisions of this chapter, a plan may offer one or more plan contracts or specialized health care service plan contracts, except that a specialized health care service plan contract shall not offer one or more basic health care services except as may be…

(a) (1) A plan contract may not provide an exception for other coverage if the other coverage is entitlement to Medi-Cal benefits under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) or Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 14200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions C…

Every group plan entered into, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 1977, which provides hospital, medical, or surgical expense benefits for employees or subscribers and their dependents, and which contains provisions granting the employee or subscriber the right to convert…

(a) On and after January 1, 1985, every health care service plan, that is not a health maintenance organization or is not a plan that enters exclusively into specialized health care service plan contracts, as defined by subdivision (n) of Section 1345, which provides coverage for…

A health care service plan that offers or provides one or more podiatry services, as defined in Section 2472 of the Business and Professions Code, as a specific podiatric plan benefit shall not refuse to give reasonable consideration to affiliation with podiatrists for the provis…

A health care service plan which offers or provides one or more chiropractic services, as defined in Section 7 of the Chiropractic Initiative Act, as a specific chiropractic plan benefit, when those services are not provided pursuant to a contract as described in subdivision (a) …

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that all persons licensed in this state to engage in the practice of dentistry shall be accorded equal professional status and privileges, without regard to the degree earned. (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no health care s…

Except for a preexisting condition, any health care service plan, except a specialized health care service plan, which provides coverage on a group or individual basis for long-term care facility services or home-based care shall not exclude persons covered by the plan from recei…