Title HSC — California Health & Safety Code

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Central Coast Hospital Authority Act.

The Legislature finds and declares the following: (a) Natividad Medical Center, currently a constituent department of the County of Monterey, is a designated public hospital, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 14166.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and a critical com…

For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply: (a) “Authority” means the Central Coast Hospital Authority established pursuant to this chapter. (b) “Board of supervisors” means the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey. (c) “Board of trustees” means…

(a) Pursuant to this chapter, the board of supervisors may establish, subject to the limitations of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), the Central Coast Hospital Authority, which shall, for all purposes, be a public entity separate and apart from the county and any other public en…

(a) Permanent employees of the medical center on the effective date of affiliation shall be deemed qualified for employment or retention and no other qualifications shall be required. Probationary employees on the effective date of affiliation shall retain their probationary stat…

(a) The authority shall be governed by a board of trustees. The trustees shall reflect both the expertise necessary to maximize the quality and scope of care at the medical center and the other health care facility in a fiscally responsible manner and the communities of interest …

(a) The authority, in addition to any other powers granted to the authority pursuant to this chapter, shall have the following powers: (1) To have the duties, privileges, immunities, rights, liabilities, and limitations of a local unit of government within the state. (2) To have …

Pursuant to this section, the board of trustees may find and declare that the authority shall cease to exist. In that event, the board of trustees shall provide for the disposition of the authority’s assets, obligations, and liabilities. Absent written agreement, the county shall…

As used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) “Allowance for financially qualified patient” means, with respect to services rendered to a financially qualified patient, an allowance that is applied after the hospital’s charges are imposed on the pa…

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) “Charity care” means free care. (b) “Discounted payment” or “discount payment” means any charge for care that is reduced but not free.

(a) The State Department of Public Health shall be responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of this article for violations occurring prior to January 1, 2024. The Department of Health Care Access and Information shall be responsible for the enforcement of the provisions …

(a) (1) (A) Each hospital shall maintain an understandable written policy regarding discount payments for financially qualified patients as well as an understandable written charity care policy. Uninsured patients or patients with high medical costs who are at or below 400 percen…

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) “Presumptively determine” means a determination made by a hospital that a patient who did not submit an application or documentation of income, as described in paragraph (1) of subdivisio…

(a) Each hospital shall provide patients with a written notice that shall contain information about availability of the hospital’s discount payment and charity care policies, including information about eligibility, as well as contact information for a hospital employee or office…

(a) Each hospital shall make all reasonable efforts to obtain from the patient or the patient’s representative information about whether private or public health insurance or sponsorship may fully or partially cover the charges for care rendered by the hospital to a patient, incl…

(a) A hospital shall not sell patient debt to a debt buyer, as defined in Section 1788.50 of the Civil Code, unless all of the following apply: (1) The hospital has found the patient ineligible for financial assistance or the patient has not responded to any attempts to bill or o…

(a) The period described in Section 127425 shall be extended if the patient has a pending appeal for coverage of the services, until a final determination of that appeal is made, if the patient makes a reasonable effort to communicate with the hospital about the progress of any p…

(a) Prior to commencing collection activities against a patient, the hospital, any assignee of the hospital, or other owner of the patient debt, including a collection agency, shall provide the patient with a clear and conspicuous written notice containing both of the following: …

(a) A hospital shall provide to the department a copy of its discount payment policy, charity care policy, eligibility procedures for those policies, review process, and the application for charity care or discounted payment programs, as well as a copy of its debt collection poli…

(a) Upon promulgation of regulations as required in subdivisions (b) and (c) no later than January 1, 2024, the Director of the Department of Health Care Access and Information shall impose an administrative penalty for each violation against a hospital that fails to comply with …

(a) The hospital shall reimburse the patient or patients any amount actually paid in excess of the amount due under this article, including interest. Interest owed by the hospital to the patient shall accrue at the rate set forth in Section 685.010 of the Code of Civil Procedure,…

The rights, remedies, and penalties established by this article are cumulative, and shall not supersede the rights, remedies, or penalties established under other laws.

(a) This article does not prohibit a hospital from uniformly imposing charges from its established charge schedule or published rates or preclude the recognition of a hospital’s established charge schedule or published rates for purposes of applying any payment limit, interim pay…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amounts paid by parties for services resulting from reduced or waived charges under a hospital’s discounted payment or charity care policy shall not constitute a hospital’s uniform, published, prevailing, or customary charges, its u…

To the extent that any requirement of Section 127400, 127401, or 127405 results in a federal determination that a hospital’s established charge schedule or published rates are not the hospital’s customary or prevailing charges for services, the requirement in question shall be in…

As used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) “Allowance for financially qualified patient” means, with respect to emergency care rendered to a financially qualified patient, an allowance that is applied after the emergency physician’s charges are …

A violation of this article shall not constitute a violation of the terms of a physician and surgeon’s licensure.

(a) Uninsured patients or patients with high medical costs who are at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level shall be eligible to apply to an emergency physician for a discount payment pursuant to a discount payment policy. Notwithstanding any other provision of this a…

(a) Each emergency physician shall make all reasonable efforts to obtain from the patient, or his or her representative, information about whether private or public health insurance or sponsorship may fully or partially cover the charges for emergency care rendered by the emergen…

(a) Each emergency physician shall have a written policy about when and under whose authority patient debt is advanced for collection. (b) Each emergency physician shall establish a written policy defining standards and practices for the collection of debt, and shall obtain a wri…

(a) The period described in Section 127455 shall be extended if the patient has a pending appeal for coverage of the services, until a final determination of that appeal is made, if the patient makes a reasonable effort to communicate with the emergency physician about the progre…

(a) After the period described in Section 127455, and upon the completion of appeals consistent with Section 127456, prior to commencing further collection activities against a patient, the emergency physician, any assignee of the emergency physician, or other owner of the patien…

The emergency physician shall reimburse the patient or patients any amount actually paid in excess of the amount due under this article, including interest. Interest owed by the emergency physician to the patient shall accrue at the rate set forth in Section 685.010 of the Code o…

The rights, remedies, and penalties established by this article are cumulative, and shall not supersede the rights, remedies, or penalties established under other laws.

Nothing in this article shall be construed to prohibit the emergency physician from uniformly imposing charges from its established charge schedule or published rates, nor shall this article preclude the recognition of an emergency physician’s established charge schedule or publi…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amounts paid by parties for services resulting from reduced or waived charges under an emergency physician’s discounted payment policy shall not constitute an emergency physician’s uniform, published, prevailing, or customary charge…

To the extent that any requirement of this article results in a federal determination that an emergency physician’s established charge schedule or published rates are not the physician and surgeon’s customary or prevailing charges for services, the requirement in question shall b…

For purposes of this article: (a) “Covered drug” means a drug purchased by a covered entity that is subject to the federal pricing requirements set forth in Section 256b of Title 42 of the United States Code. (b) “Covered entity” means a provider defined as a covered entity in Se…

(a) A pharmacy benefit manager shall not impose any requirements, conditions, or exclusions that do either of the following: (1) Discriminate against a covered entity or a specified pharmacy in connection with dispensing covered drugs. (2) Prevent a covered entity from retaining …

As used in this chapter the term “board” means the board of supervisors of a county.

The board of supervisors in each county may establish and maintain a county hospital, prescribe rules for the government and management thereof, appoint a county physician and other necessary officers and employees thereof, who shall hold office during the pleasure of the board a…

(a) A member of a county hospital’s medical or allied health professional staff who is an officer of the board of supervisors, or of a board or commission appointed by the board of supervisors for the operation of a county hospital shall not be deemed to be “financially intereste…

(a) Prior to (1) closing , (2) eliminating or reducing the level of medical services provided by, or (3) the leasing, selling, or transfer of management of, a county facility, the board shall provide public notice, including notice posted at the entrance to all county health care…

The board may provide for transporting the needy sick to and from hospitals to which they may be sent by authority of the board, and may provide for transporting indigents to other counties or states when such indigents will thereby cease to become public charges, or when friends…

The board of supervisors in each county or city and county, having a population of one million or more, may purchase ambulances, establish and maintain an ambulance service, and prescribe rules for the government and management thereof. In any county where such a service has been…

If a county hospital requests an ambulance to transfer a mental health patient who is unstable and has a history of being assaultive to another facility, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the director of the hospital or a designee shall inform the ambulance personnel of…

Under such limitations and restrictions as are prescribed by law, and in addition to jurisdiction and powers otherwise conferred, the boards of supervisors in each county may provide for the care and maintenance of the indigent sick or dependent poor of the county, and may provid…

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a person, in order to be eligible for care, shall be a resident of the state and county wherein care is furnished as defined in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 17100) of Part 5 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the county which is responsible for the payment of public assistance to any person or group of persons under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200), Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12000), or Chapter…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the board shall not let the care, maintenance, or attendance of the indigent sick or dependent poor by contract to any person. (b) The board may secure for the indigent sick, and other persons admissible to the county hospital, at…