14105.461.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) California’s federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs)are essential partners with the state in providing a health care safety net for underserved, uninsured, and underinsured populations in a cost-effective manner.
(2) California’s FQHCs and RHCs generate significant savings to the state and to local communities by providing primary and preventive care that responds to patients’ needs before medical problems become serious or life threatening, and by reducing the reliance of patients, including the uninsured and underinsured, on costly emergency room care, inpatient treatment, and specialty care.
(3) California’s FQHCs and RHCs are critical to the community providers that serve low-income patients, and are more necessary than ever now as many of these Americans are also the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
(4) Supporting and ensuring the stability of California’s FQHCs and RHCs, and their continued ability to provide pharmaceutical services, is necessary if California is to ensure access to health care services for the low-income and minority patients served by these health centers and clinics.
(5) A substantial number of covered entities enrolled in the 340B discount drug purchasing program (340B program) are financially constrained and have to rely on contract pharmacies to access the program. Forcing these clinics and health centers to convert their services to onsite pharmacies would result in a significant waste of taxpayer and community resources that could otherwise be devoted to patient care.
(6) It is the intent of the Legislature that no changes in the coverage of pharmacy services be made by the State Department of Health Care Services that would undermine its ability to provide pharmacy services to California’s low-income and minority patients.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, the director shall not take any action that materially increases the administrative burden or cost of dispensing 340B drugs by federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics, including, but not limited to, changes that adversely impact the use of contract pharmacy arrangements.
(2) Before taking an action that materially impacts the 340B drug program, the director shall prepare a detailed report describing the proposed action, including a determination that the action does not violate paragraph (1). The director shall publish the report on the department’s internet website and distribute it to the Assembly Committee on Health and the Senate Committee on Health.
(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “340B drugs” means drugs covered by the 340B program, as described in Section 256b of Title 42 of the United States Code.