Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T01:04:54.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Managed Care: Health Providers' Bill of Rights Now Law in California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Bryan Lee
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

On September 25, 2002, California Governor Gray Davis approved the Health Care Providers’ Bill of Rights (A.B. 2907). The legislation, which went into effect January 1, 2003, outlaws several practices by insurers that physicians complained represented an imbalance of power. Insurers are now unable to compel doctors to take more patients than they feel they can handle, and managed care companies cannot unilaterally change the terms of their contracts with doctors without notice. Governor Davis praised the legislation, stating, “in order to provide patients with world-class care, we must ensure that our doctors have world-class rights.”

California has one of the highest levels of health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration in the nation, at 52 percent. Seventy-eight percent of HMO patients are enrolled in five HMOs. As a result of these practice conditions, doctors reportedly often felt pressured to comply when HMOs “ordered [them] to take on additional patients,” “changed contracts without warning,” and were “lax in payments.”

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , Spring 2003 , pp. 157 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Health Care Providers’ Bill of Rights, A.B. 2907, 2001–2002 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2002), available at <http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/asm/ab_2901-2950/ab_2907_bill_20020926_chaptered.html>..>Google Scholar
See Office of the Governor, State of California, Press Release, Governor Davis Signs Legislation to Improve Health Care Access (September 26, 2002), available at <http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_pressroom_main.jsp>..>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Hearing on A.B. 2907 Before Assemb. Comm. on Health, 2001–2002 Leg., Reg. Sess. 3 (Cal. 2002), available at <http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01–02/bill/asm/ab2901-2950/ab_2907_cfa_20020422_122549_asm_comm.htm>..>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Coleman, J., Associated Press, “Davis Signs Bill Helping Doctors Against HMOs,” North County Times, September 27, 2002, available at <http://www.nctimes.net/news/2002/20020927/60722.html>..>Google Scholar
See id.Google Scholar
Fong, T., “Davis Signs Bill Giving Doctors More Clout with Health Plans,” San Diego Union-Tribune, September 27, 2002, at C3, available at <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20020927-9999_1b27hmo.html>..>Google Scholar
Department of Managed Health Care, About the Department of Managed Health Care, available at <http://www.dmhc.ca.gov/info/aboutdmc> (last visited February 15, 2003).+(last+visited+February+15,+2003).>Google Scholar
Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 1367(h)(1), 1371.37(c)(1)–(4) (West 2003).Google Scholar
Third Reading of AB 2907 Before Assemb., 2001–2002 Leg., Reg. Sess. 2 (Cal. 2002), available at <http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/asm/ab_2901-2950/ab_2907_cfa_20020515_175830_asm_floor.html>..>Google Scholar
Health Care Providers’ Bill of Rights, A.B. 2907, 2001–2002 Leg., Reg. Sess. § 1(b)(1)(A) (Cal. 2002) (with the exception of changes made to comply with a law or regulation), available at <http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/asm/ab_2901-2950/ab_2907_bill_20020926_chaptered.html>..>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. § 1(b)(1)(B).Google Scholar
Id. § 1(b)(3).Google Scholar
Id. § 1(b)(2).Google Scholar
Id. § 1(c).Google Scholar
Id. § 1(d) (referring to Cal. Health & Safety Code § 1367(h) (West 2003)).Google Scholar
Id. § 3(e).Google Scholar
Darmiento, L., “Despite One Failing, Physicians See Gains in Legislative Efforts,” L.A. Business Journal, October 7, 2002, at 47.Google Scholar
Personal communication between author and Lisa Mee-Stephenson, WellPoint spokesperson, on December 9, 2002.Google Scholar
See Health Care Providers’ Bill of Rights, A.B. 2907, amended June 20, 2002, 2001–2002 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2002), available at <http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/asm/ab_2901-2950/ab_2907_bill_20020620_amended_sen.html>..>Google Scholar
See Health Care Providers’ Bill of Rights, A.B. 2907, amended August 27, 2002, 2001–2002 Leg., Reg. Sess. § 1(g)(1) (Cal. 2002), available at <http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01_02/bill/asm/ab_2901-2950/ab_2907_bill_20020827_amended_sen.html>..>Google Scholar
California Medical Association, Press Release, Davis Signs Health Care Provider Bill of Rights (September 26, 2002), available at <http://www.cmanet.org/publicdoc.cfm>..>Google Scholar
Jacob, J.A., “California Plan Requires Plans to Give Notice of Contract Changes,” American Medical News, October 21, 2002, available at <http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_02/bisel021.htm>..>Google Scholar
See Russell, S., “Many Doctors Reject HMO Clients, Survey Says,” The San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2002, at A1.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar