Community colleges: registered nursing programs. Existing law authorizes a community college registered nursing program, if it determines that the number of applicants to the program exceeds its capacity, to admit students to the program using a multicriteria screening process, a random selection process, or a blended combination of random selection and a multicriteria screening process, as specified. Existing law requires that the criteria applied in a multicriteria screening process include consideration of the life experiences or special circumstances of an applicant, as listed. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to report annually to the Legislature and the Governor on students admitted to community college registered nursing programs through a multicriteria screening process, as provided. Existing law repeals these provisions relating to admission to community college nursing programs on January 1, 2025. This bill would add residing within a medically underserved area, as specified, to the list of life experiences or special circumstances specified for consideration in a multicriteria screening process. The bill would extend operation of these provisions relating to admission to community college nursing programs until January 1, 2030.

Newborn screening program. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a program for the development, provision, and evaluation of genetic disease testing. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Genetic Disease Testing Fund (GDTF), consisting of fees paid for newborn screening tests, and states the intent of the Legislature that all costs of the genetic disease testing program be fully supported by fees paid for newborn screening tests, which are deposited in the GDTF. Existing law also authorizes moneys in the GDTF to be used for the expansion of the Genetic Disease Branch Screening Information System to include cystic fibrosis, biotinidase, severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and exempts the expansion of contracts for this purpose from certain provisions of the Public Contract Code, the Government Code, and the State Administrative Manual, as specified. This bill would require the department to expand statewide screening of newborns to include screening for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. By expanding the purposes for which moneys from the fund may be expended, this bill would make an appropriation.

Health Facilities Financing Authority Act. The California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act authorizes the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to, among other things, make loans from the continuously appropriated California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund to participating health institutions for financing or refinancing the acquisition, construction, or remodeling of health facilities. Under existing law, participating health institutions are specified entities authorized by state law to provide or operate a health facility and undertake the financing or refinancing of the construction or acquisition of a project or of working capital, as defined. Existing law defines “working capital” as moneys to be used by, or on behalf of, a participating health institution for specified expenses in connection with the ownership or operation of a health facility, including interest not to exceed two years on any loan for working capital made pursuant to these provisions. Existing law requires a participating health institution that is a private nonprofit corporation or association and that borrows money to finance working capital to repay and discharge the loan within 24 months of the loan date. This bill would change the definition of “working capital” to remove the 2-year cap on interest on any loan for working capital. The bill would delete the provision requiring a participating health institution that is a private nonprofit corporation or association to repay and discharge a loan for working capital within 24 months.

Health care coverage: rape and sexual assault. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurance policy that is issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2025, to provide coverage without cost sharing for emergency room medical care and follow-up health care treatment for an enrollee or insured who is treated following a rape or sexual assault. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from requiring, as a condition of providing coverage, (1) an enrollee or insured to file a police report, (2) charges to be brought against an assailant, (3) or an assailant to be convicted of rape or sexual assault. Because a violation of the bill by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Program. This bill would repeal the provisions regarding the Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program, and would instead establish two bifurcated programs, the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program and the Licensed Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program. Within these 2 programs, the bill would generally revise and recast certain requirements pertaining to the Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program, including deleting the above-described requirement that Mexican physicians participating in the program enroll in adult English as a second language classes. The bill would instead require those physicians to have satisfactorily completed the Test of English as a Foreign Language or the Occupational English Test, as specified. The bill would remove the requirement that the orientation program be 6 months, and would further require the orientation program to include electronic medical records systems utilized by federally qualified health centers and standards for medical chart notations. The bill would also delete the requirement that the physicians participate in a 6-month externship. The bill would further delete provisions requiring an evaluation of the pilot program to be undertaken with funds provided from philanthropic foundations, and would make various other related changes to the program. Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would require the Medical Board of California to permit each of the no more than 30 licensed physicians who were issued a 3-year license to practice medicine pursuant to the program to extend their license for 3 years on a one-time basis. Commencing January 1, 2025, and every 3 years thereafter, until January 1, 2041, the bill would require the board to permit no more than an additional specified number of physicians from Mexico to participate in the program. Under the bill, each additional physician selected for the program would not be eligible to renew their 3-year license. The bill would require the federally qualified health centers employing physicians pursuant to the program to continue specified peer review protocols and procedures and to work with the University of California at San Francisco, as provided. The bill would also require the board to work with the community health centers that assisted in recruiting, vetting, and securing required documents from primary sources in Mexico to participate in the pilot program and worked in the placement of physicians in federally qualified health centers that participated in the pilot program.

Optometry: certification to perform advanced procedures. This bill would authorize an optometrist certified to treat glaucoma to obtain certification to perform specified advanced procedures in a patient 18 years of age or older if the optometrist meets certain education, training, examination, and other requirements, as specified. By requiring optometrists, qualified educators, and course administrators to certify or attest specified information relating to advanced procedure competency, thus expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the board to set a fee for the issuance and renewal of the certificate authorizing the use of advanced procedures, which would be deposited in the Optometry Fund. The bill would require an optometrist who performs advanced procedures pursuant to these provisions to report certain information to the board, including any adverse treatment outcomes that required a referral to or consultation with another health care provider. The bill would require the board to compile a report summarizing the data collected and make the report available on the board’s internet website.This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Health care coverage: Medication-assisted treatment. This bill would prohibit a medical service plan and a health insurer from subjecting a naloxone product or another opioid antagonist approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or a buprenorphine product or long-acting injectable naltrexone for detoxification or maintenance treatment of a substance use disorder, to prior authorization or step therapy. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Health care coverage. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law exempts a health care service plan from the requirements of the act if the plan is operated by a city, county, city and county, public entity, political subdivision, or public joint labor management trust that satisfies certain criteria, including that the plan requires providers to be reimbursed solely on a fee-for-service basis. Existing law authorizes the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care, no later than May 1, 2021, to authorize 2 pilot programs, one in northern California and one in southern California, under which providers approved by the department may undertake risk-bearing arrangements with a voluntary employees’ beneficiary association with enrollment of more than 100,000 lives, notwithstanding the fee-for-service requirement described above, or a trust fund that is a welfare plan and a multiemployer plan with enrollment of more than 25,000 lives, for independent periods of time beginning no earlier than January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2025, inclusive, if certain criteria are met. Existing law requires the association or trust fund and each health care provider participating in each pilot program to report to the department information regarding cost savings and clinical patient outcomes compared to a fee-for-service payment model, and requires the department to report those findings to the Legislature no later than January 1, 2027. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would extend that repeal date to January 1, 2030. The bill would extend the period of time authorized for those pilot programs to operate from December 31, 2025, to December 31, 2027. The bill would extend the deadline for the department to report the findings to the Legislature from January 1, 2027, to January 1, 2029.

HIV preexposure prophylaxis and postexposure prophylaxis. This bill would require a health care service plan and health insurer to cover preexposure prophylaxis and postexposure prophylaxis furnished by a pharmacist, including the pharmacist’s services and related testing ordered by the pharmacist, and to pay or reimburse for the service performed by a pharmacist at an in-network pharmacy or a pharmacist at an out-of-network pharmacy if the health care service plan or health insurer has an out-of-network pharmacy benefit, except as specified. The bill would include preexposure prophylaxis furnished by a pharmacist as pharmacist services on the Medi-Cal schedule of benefits. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Pharmacy benefits. This bill would require a pharmacy benefit manager, as defined by the bill, to apply for and obtain a license from the California State Board of Pharmacy to operate as a pharmacy benefit manager. The bill would establish application qualifications and requirements, and would establish an unspecified fee for initial licensure and renewal. This bill would require a pharmacy benefit manager, on or before April 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to file with the board a report containing specified information. The bill would specify that the contents of the report shall not be disclosed to the public. The bill would require the board, on or before August 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature based on the reports submitted by licensees, and would require the board to post the report on the board’s internet website. This bill would impose specified duties on pharmacy benefit managers and requirements for pharmacy benefit manager services and pharmacy benefit manager contracts, including prohibiting a pharmacy benefit manager from deriving income from pharmacy benefit management services, except as specified. The bill would make a violation of the above specified provisions subject to specified civil penalties. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, that provides prescription drug coverage to calculate an enrollee or insured’s cost sharing amount, including deductible and coinsurance, based exclusively on its negotiated rate for the prescription drug. The bill, for a preexisting contract between a pharmacy benefit manager and a health care service plan or health insurer authorizing spread pricing, would prohibit an amendment or renewal of the contract from authorizing spread pricing. The bill would prohibit a contract between a pharmacy benefit manager and a health care service plan or health insurer that is executed on or after January 1, 2025, from authorizing spread pricing. By expanding the scope of a crime under the Knox-Keene Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.