BILL NUMBER: SB 1320	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Harman

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2012

   An act relating to health care.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1320, as introduced, Harman. Direct primary care practices.
   Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various
healings arts practitioners. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care
Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation
of health care service plans. Existing law also provides for the
regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance.
   This bill would state various findings with respect to the use of
direct primary care practices in which a patient enters into a direct
relationship with a physician and pays the physician a fixed amount
for primary care services. The bill would state the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation that would define a direct primary
care practice and specify that such a practice is not a health care
service plan or a health insurer.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that
California needs a multipronged approach to make health care services
more readily available and affordable to the many residents of the
state who lack adequate access to those services. Direct primary care
practices, in which a patient enters into a direct relationship with
a physician and pays a fixed amount directly to the physician for
primary care services, represent an innovative, affordable option
that could improve access to medical care, reduce the number of
people who lack this access, reduce emergency room use for primary
care purposes, and make emergency rooms more available to treat
actual emergencies.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
would do both of the following:
   (1) Define the term "direct primary care practice" in a manner
that ensures patient safety and allows this innovative model to
operate efficiently and unencumbered by unnecessary state government
regulation.
   (2) Specify that a direct primary care practice is not a health
care service plan subject to regulation under the Knox-Keene Health
Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section
1340) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code) or a health
insurer subject to regulation by the Insurance Commissioner under the
Insurance Code.