(a)
It is the policy of this state that holders of M.D. degrees and D.O. degrees shall be accorded equal professional status and privileges as licensed physicians and surgeons.
(b)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no health facility subject to licensure under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1250) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code, no health care service plan, nonprofit hospital service plan, policy of disability insurance, self-insured employer welfare benefit plan, and no agency of the state or of any city, county, city and county, district, or other political subdivision of the state shall discriminate with respect to employment, staff privileges, or the provision of, or contracts for, professional services against a licensed physician and surgeon on the basis of whether the physician and surgeon holds an M.D. or D.O. degree. This section shall not be construed to require a disability insurer health care service plan or hospital service plan to employ, offer staff privileges, or contract for professional services with a class of physician who holds an M.D. or D.O. degree. However, this subdivision shall not prohibit a school of allopathic medicine or a school of osteopathic medicine from employing a physician and surgeon as an instructor on the basis of whether the physician and surgeon holds an M.D. or D.O. degree, where the subject matter to be taught specifically requires allopathic or osteopathic training and experience.
(c)
Whenever the health facility staffing requirements for staff or department privileges mandate that the physician who has been granted privileges be certified or eligible for certification by an appropriate American medical board, that position must be made available on an equal basis to an osteopathic physician who is certified or eligible for certification by the appropriate American osteopathic board.
(d)
Whenever an entity that contracts with physicians and surgeons or osteopathic physicians to provide managed care or risk-based care requires that the physician who is responsible for the contract be certified or eligible for certification by an appropriate American medical board, the contract reference to American medical board shall be construed to mean American Osteopathic Board when the contracting physician is an osteopathic physician.
(e)
Staff self-government, involving M.D. and D.O. physicians and surgeons, with respect to the professional work performed in the health facility, shall be accomplished by holding periodic meetings of the staff to review and analyze at regular intervals their clinical experience. Patient medical records shall be the basis for such review and analysis.
(f)
The physician and surgeon staff shall be required to establish controls that are designed to ensure the achievement and maintenance of high standards of professional and ethical practices including a provision that all members of the physician and surgeon staff be required to demonstrate their ability to perform surgical and other procedures competently and to the satisfaction of an appropriate committee or committees of the staff at the time of original application for appointment to the staff and at least every two years thereafter.
(g)
No health facility may adopt written bylaws in accordance with legal requirements that in any way are construed to circumvent the intent of the Legislature or any other nondiscriminatory provisions contained in either the Medical Practice Act or in any provisions applicable to osteopathic physicians.
(h)
No entity that contracts with physicians and surgeons to provide managed care or risk-based care may adopt written bylaws in accordance with legal requirements that in any way are construed to circumvent the intent of the Legislature or any other nondiscriminatory provisions contained in either the Medical Practice Act or in any provisions applicable to osteopathic physicians.
(i)
For the purposes of this section, no professional medical or osteopathic association may mandate membership in their respective organizations as a prerequisite for a physician to obtain staff privileges, employment, or in the offering of a contract for services.
(j)
Any violation of subdivisions (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i) may be enjoined in an action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the district attorney of the county in which the violation occurs, upon receipt of a complaint by an aggrieved physician and surgeon.
