Update on the Bar to the Corporate Practice of Medicine (AB 824)

After an aggressive grassroots and lobbying effort, AB 824 (Chesbro) was pulled from Health Committee yesterday by the author. This action was significant because the bill was double-referred and needed to pass out of the Health Committee in order to meet policy committee deadlines. Because the bill did not have the votes yesterday, the author was left with the option of either putting it up for a vote and having it die in committee or holding it in committee without a vote and turning it into a “two-year bill.” AB 824 is effectively dead for the year and will not be eligible to be heard in Committee until next year. Thank you to Dr. Cobb for coming all the way to Sacramento prepared to testify against the bill. As a constituent, Dr. Cobb’s presence added additional pressure to Assemblymember Chesbro.

This was a huge victory for CMA and sent a clear message to the hospitals that the Legislature is not comfortable lifting the ban on the corporate practice of medicine without adequate protections for both physicians and their patients. Congratulations to Dean Grafilo, the lead lobbyist working on this bill, and all of you for your phone calls and emails lobbying the members of Committee.

AB 1360 (Swanson) the second of the corporate bar bills in the Legislature, is set to be heard in Health Committee next week. Assemblymember Swanson has reached out to CMA Government Relations to discuss amendments in order to remove CMA’s opposition. Without significantly amending the proposal, AB 1360 will suffer the same fate as AB 824 in Health Committee next week. We will keep you updated as discussions continue.