The California Court of Appeals last fall ruled that physician-owned surgery centers are exempt from the state’s clinic licensure requirements. The Department of Public Health has wrongly interpreted the appellate court ruling to mean that the department does not have jurisdiction over these surgery centers, and has subsequently refused to license physicians seeking voluntary licensure for their clinics. Because the Department of Health Services requires licensure for participation in the Medi-Cal program, this misinterpretation will have a serious negative effect on access to care for Medi-Cal patients.
CMA has urged the department to reconsider its decision to refuse licensure to physician-owned ambulatory surgical centers, as it is unsupported by the law and deprives Medi-Cal beneficiaries access to needed services.
“The department’s interpretation … is wreaking financial havoc on physician-owned ambulatory surgical centers throughout the state that are being told that they need a license in order to treat Medi-Cal patients but are nonetheless unable to obtain one just because they are physicians,” wrote CMA legal counsel Astrid Meghrigian in a letter to Bonita Sorensen, M.D., DPH’s Chief Deputy Director of Policy and Programs. “But even apart from the financial ramifications that these centers are experiencing, the net impact of the Department’s decision is to further limit the already constrained access to care that Medi-Cal beneficiaries experience.”
Click here to read CMA's letter to the Department of Public Health on this issue.
