Healing arts: referrals.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Under existing law, it is unlawful for licensed healing arts practitioners, except as specified, to offer, deliver, receive, or accept any rebate, refund, commission, preference, patronage dividend, discount, or other consideration, in the form of money or otherwise, as compensation or inducement for referring patients, clients, or customers to any person. Existing law makes a violation of this provision a public offense punishable upon a first conviction by imprisonment, as specified, or a fine not exceeding $50,000, or by imprisonment and that fine. This bill would provide that the payment or receipt of consideration for advertising, wherein a licensed healing arts practitioner offers or sells services through a third-party advertiser, does not constitute a referral of patients when the third-party advertiser does not itself recommend, endorse, or otherwise select a licensee. The bill would require that the fee paid to the third-party advertiser be commensurate with the service provided by the third-party advertiser. The bill would require the purchaser of the service to receive a refund of the full purchase price if the licensee determines, after consultation with the purchaser, that the service provided by the licensee is not appropriate for the purchaser, or if the purchaser elects not to receive the service for any reason and requests a refund, as specified. The bill would require that a licensee disclose in the advertisement that a consultation is required and that the purchaser will receive a refund if not eligible to receive the service. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply to basic health care services or essential health benefits, as defined. The bill would also provide that the entity that provides advertising is required to be able to demonstrate that the licensee consented in writing to these provisions. The bill would require a third-party advertiser to make available to prospective purchasers advertisements for services of all licensees then advertising through the third-party advertiser in the applicable geographic region and to disclose, in any advertisement offering a discount price for a service, the regular, nondiscounted price for that service.