BILL NUMBER: AB 328	CHAPTERED  10/10/07

	CHAPTER  385
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 10, 2007
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 10, 2007
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 30, 2007
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 4, 2007
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 25, 2007
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 19, 2007
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 6, 2007
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 10, 2007
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 19, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Salas

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2007

   An act to add Section 1379.5 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health care service plans.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 328, Salas. Health care service plans: disease reports.
   Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975
(Knox-Keene Act), provides for the licensure and regulation of health
care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and
makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Under the Knox-Keene
Act, all contracts between a provider and a plan are required to be
in writing. Other provisions of existing law require a health care
provider, as defined, to report specified diseases or conditions of a
patient to the local health officer where the patient resides.
   This bill would require a health care service plan, on and after
July 1, 2008, to include in its contract with a health care provider,
as defined, who provides services to an enrollee in Mexico a
provision requiring the provider to comply with this mandate,
reporting the specified diseases or conditions to the health officer
in California where the patient resides or is employed. The bill
would also require a health care service plan that contracts with
those health care providers to give a specified notification to those
providers of the reporting requirement.
   Because the bill would specify an additional requirement under the
Knox-Keene Act, the willful violation of which 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.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1379.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   1379.5.  (a) On and after July 1, 2008, every contract between a
plan and a health care provider who provides health care services in
Mexico to an enrollee of the plan shall require the health care
provider knowing of, or in attendance on, a case or suspected case of
any disease or condition listed in subdivision (j) of Section 2500
of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations to report the case
to the health officer of the jurisdiction in California where the
patient in the case resides, or if the patient resides in Mexico and
is employed in California, the contract shall require a health care
provider to report the case to the health officer of the jurisdiction
where the patient in the case is employed. The contract provision
shall require the health care provider to make the report in
accordance with subdivision (d) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the
California Code of Regulations, except that for reports in cases
where the patient resides in Mexico the contract shall require the
report to be made to the health officer of the jurisdiction where the
patient is employed.
   (b) For purposes of this section, the terms "case," "health care
provider," "health officer," "in attendance," and "suspected case"
shall have the same meanings as set forth in subdivision (a) of
Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.
   (c) A plan's obligations under this section shall be limited to
the following:
   (1) Ensuring that the contracts executed by providers who provide
health care services in Mexico satisfy the requirements set forth in
subdivision (a).
   (2) Giving the following written notice to the provider at the
time the signed contract is delivered:


  "This contract contains specific requirements regarding reporting
of actual or suspected diseases or conditions to California health
officers."


  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.