Four of CMA’s sponsored bills passed the Legislature, and now await the governor’s signature. CMA also successfully averted a number of legislative attempts to ban balance billing and expand the scope of practice of allied health professionals. All of these bills stalled in committee and were tabled until next year.

CMA-sponsored bills on the governor's desk:

• AB 682, which would help make HIV testing a routine part of medical checkups.
• AB 632, which would strengthen whistle-blower protections for physicians and prohibit hospitals from retaliating or discriminating against a physician on its medical staff for speaking out about the quality of care provided in the facility.
• AB 1226, which would streamline Medi-Cal physician enrollment.
• AB 1324, which would confirm that it is illegal for insurers to rescind or modify authorization after services are rendered in good faith.

Two CMA-sponsored bills introduced this year will be taken up again in the next legislative session. These include the farmworker health coverage bill (AB 770), which would improve access to health care for farmworkers in California, and AB 1155, which would require mandatory penalties for HMOs that are found by the Department of Managed Health Care to have underpaid physicians, and would require those HMOs to automatically pay to physicians the full amount of underpayment plus interest.

With less than a week left in the current legislative session – and no agreement on health care reform in sight – the governor on Tuesday called a special session to hammer out a health care compromise. CMA is pleased that the governor and the Legislature are demonstrating a continued commitment to health care reform.

A comprehensive legislative wrap-up will be available soon. Stay tuned to CMA Alert for details.

For more information on these and other bills of interest to physicians, see CMA's Legislative Hot List.

Contact: Susan Bassett, 916/444-5532 or sbassett@cmanet.org.