(a) A hospital shall do all of the following with respect to an equity report prepared pursuant to Section 127372:
(1) Include in the equity report an explanation of the methodology used, written in plain English.
(2) Annually submit the equity report to the Department of Health Care Access and Information. A hospital shall file a copy of the report with the department for the relevant calendar years according to the reporting schedule established by the department.
(3) Annually post the equity report on the hospital’s internet website. The report shall be available via a link that includes the words “Equity Report” or a substantially similar term, which shall be visible on the main page of the hospital’s internet website as loaded by a standard internet browser in an easily readable font size without having to scroll down.
(b) A hospital under the common control of a single corporation or another entity may file a consolidated equity report if the report includes each hospital’s equity data.
(c) Hospitals that are part of an integrated system may prepare and submit a single joint equity report if the report separately addresses each hospital’s equity analysis.
(d) Data and information included in annual equity reports shall be reported to the extent information is available and disclosed in a manner that protects the personal information of patients pursuant to state and federal privacy laws, including the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 56) of Division 1 of the Civil Code) and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191).
(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 751, Sec. 2. (AB 1204) Effective January 1, 2022.)