CALIFORNIA

Overview

The state of California is a national leader in healthcare price and competition initiatives and continues to make strides in healthcare system reform. In price transparency, California’s repeated efforts to establish an all-payer claims database came to fruition with the passage of AB 1810 in 2018, after a long road of legislative efforts spanning over ten years. With a one-time $60 million appropriation to California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (“OSHPD”), AB 1810 mandates the creation of Health Care Cost Transparency Database by July 2023. California also has robust legislative protections against surprise and balance billing, prohibiting out-of-network provider “surprise bills” for both emergency and non-emergency services.

California also leads the nation on the drug price transparency front with SB 17, a landmark law that requires drug companies to give advanced notice of prescription drug price increases to public and private purchasers of health care and health care coverage. Despite legal challenges to the law, it is seen as a meaningful step to negotiate the political and legal boundaries of state action to rein in drug prices.

In healthcare market competition, the state is active in antitrust enforcement of provider anticompetitive practices, most notably in the historic action against Sutter Health, in which the California attorney general sued the Northern California hospital giant for leveraging its dominant market power to demand all-or-nothing, anti-tiering and anti-steering, and gag clauses in its contracts with insurers. As an extension from the case, the legislature continues to seek increased merger review authority of health care entities as well as legislative prohibition of anticompetitive terms in provider contracts, most recently with the introduction of SB 977 in the 2020 session.

Overall, California remains an active participant in the initiative to reduce healthcare costs and improve price transparency. The state legislature has also explored healthcare market initiatives including a single payer system (SB 562) as well as state public option (AB 2472). California’s legislation and regulation aligns with similarly active and progressive states by focusing on pharmaceutical costs and stakeholder transparency measures. For more information and the latest updates, follow the California Legislative Beat on The Source Blog.

See below for an overview of existing California state mandates. Click on citation tab for detailed information of specific statutes (click link to download statute text).

 

State Action


Latest Legislative Session: 12/5/2022 - 9/8/2023 (2023-2024 term). *Current session bill updates are ongoing. Check back weekly for updates.

Filter by Key Issue, Year, or Status
Download User Guide

© 2018- The SLIHCQ DatabaseInitial funding for this project was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

Filter by Key Issue
Download User Guide

© 2018- The SLIHCQ DatabaseInitial funding for this project was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
Filter by Key Issue


Additional Resources

STATE BUDGET

California operates on an annual budget cycle. The fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The Governor submits a proposed budget in January and the legislature adopts a budget in June.

REGULATION & ENFORCEMENT

  • California was one of 16 states to file an amicus brief supporting the FTC’s winning position in the Ninth Circuit appeal of St. Luke’s Health Care Sys. v. FTC, No. 14-35173 (March 7, 2014), decided February 10, 2015. The States’ brief stated that the acceleration of health care costs due to the growth of large health care provider systems had become a matter of grave concern for the states.

KEY RESOURCES