101870-101873

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 101870-101873




101870.  For the purposes of this article:
   (a) "Person" includes any natural person, corporation,
partnership, limited liability company, firm, or association.
   (b) "Records" includes any writing containing information relating
to the conduct of the corporation's business prepared, owned, used,
or retained by the corporation regardless of physical form or
characteristics. "Records" does not include any records transferred
from any private nonprofit corporation that is a member or
predecessor of the corporation that were created prior to the
transfer of assets for the operation of a hospital by the
corporation.
   (c) "Writing" means handwriting, typewriting, printing,
photostating, photographing, and every other means of recording upon
any form of communication or representation, including letters,
words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combination thereof, and all
papers, maps, magnetic or paper tapes, photographic films and prints,
magnetic or punched cards, discs, drums, and other documents.



101871.  (a) Records of the corporation shall be available to the
public for inspection or copying upon a request in writing, submitted
to the principal office of the corporation, which reasonably
identifies the particular records sought to be disclosed, unless it
is impracticable for an exact copy to be provided. Computer data
shall be provided in a form determined by the corporation. The
corporation shall adopt policies consistent with this article stating
the procedures to be followed when making its records available
under this article and identifying the officers or employees of the
corporation responsible for the administration of these policies, and
shall make these policies available to the public for inspection
upon request during normal business hours.
   (b) The corporation shall determine within 10 working days after
receipt of a request whether to comply with the request, and shall
immediately notify the person making the request of the determination
and identify the provision of this article or other provision of law
that is the basis for withholding any record. Access to records
requested, or copies thereof, shall be provided promptly after the
corporation determines it will comply with the request. The
corporation may extend the time limit for making a determination for
up to an additional 15 working days by giving written notice to the
requester when an extension is necessary to permit the corporation to
do any of the following:
   (1) To search for and collect the requested records from field
facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office
processing the request.
   (2) To search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous
amount of separate and distinct records that are demanded in a
single request.
   (3) To consult with another person having a substantial interest
in the determination of the request.
   (4) To permit a determination to be made under this subdivision.
   (c) Notices provided and requests made under this article shall be
made available to the public.
   (d) The corporation may establish reasonable charges for the costs
of complying with this article, not to exceed the actual cost of
duplication.



101872.  Nothing in this article shall be construed to require
disclosure of any of the following:
   (a) Contracts, business and marketing strategies, financial
information, and any other competitive and strategic information,
disclosure of which would impair the corporation's ability to
accomplish its primary public benefit purposes by depriving the
corporation of a material or competitive economic benefit or exposing
the corporation to a material competitive or economic risk.
   (b) Records that relate to the terms and conditions of contracts
for the provision of health care services, including compliance with
regulatory conditions thereof, with governmental and nongovernmental
insurers, health care providers, health plans, third-party
administrators, management services organizations, self-insured
employers, medical groups, and payers or any other portion of
contract negotiations, impressions, opinions, recommendations,
meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or
instructions or advice to employees.
   (c) Records that relate to reports of a hospital or medical audit
committee or a quality assurance committee or similar reports by
staff of the corporation, accreditation reports, audits, audit
compliance, licensure compliance, insurance and self-insurance
coverage, health care peer review reports, and quality assessments,
including, but not limited to, a review of the credentials of, or the
quality of care rendered by, health care providers in the facilities
of the corporation, or hearings regarding medical staff privileges.
   (d) Records the disclosure of which is exempted or prohibited
pursuant to any provision of state or federal law applicable to any
governmental hospital, or any state or federal statute applicable to
a nongovernmental hospital, including, but not limited to, provisions
of the Evidence Code relating to privilege. The corporation shall
identify the provision of law restricting disclosure when relying
upon this exemption.
   (e) Real estate appraisals or engineering or feasibility estimates
related to the acquisition or disposition of property or related to
supply and construction contracts, and until all of the contracted
property, supplies, or construction work is obtained. This exemption
from disclosure shall continue until these contracts are final and
agreed to by all parties to the contracts.
   (f) Records that relate to collective bargaining or contract
negotiations with represented and unrepresented employees including
discussions of the corporation's available funds and funding
priorities, but only insofar as these discussions relate to the
corporation's ability to conclude the collective bargaining agreement
or contract under discussion. For the purposes of this subdivision,
"employee" shall include an officer, an independent contractor who
functions as an officer or an employee, a physician and surgeon or
other medical professional with medical staff privileges at a health
facility or clinic operated by the corporation, or other person
exercising professional responsibilities as authorized by the
corporation at a health facility or clinic operated by the
corporation, but shall not include other independent contractors.
   (g) Medical, personnel, or similar files, the disclosure of which
would constitute an invasion of privacy of an employee, officer,
customer, or patient of the corporation, including, but not limited
to, home addresses, billing records, salaries, and employment
contracts.
   (h) Records provided by potential employees, contractors,
physicians and surgeons, or other persons for the use or
consideration of the corporation under a reasonable belief that the
corporation would treat the records supplied as confidential,
including financial statements and proprietary information. A
reasonable belief may be, but need not be, supported by a written
agreement.
   (i) Library circulation records.
   (j) Any trade secret as defined in subdivision (d) of Section
3426.1 of the Civil Code.
   (k) Records relating to the purchase or sale of securities or
other investments, including investments of the corporation in
endowments and pension funds.
   ( l) Records relating to gifts, devises, bequests, and grants.
   (m) Charges or complaints from a member enrolled in a health plan
or any affiliated provider of health care services.
   (n) Any record not otherwise expressly exempt from disclosure
under this article if it impairs the corporation's ability to
accomplish its primary public benefit purposes by either depriving
the corporation of a material competitive or economic benefit, or
exposing the corporation to a material competitive or economic risk.



101873.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever at
least one member of the members of the corporation is itself a state
agency, including a constitutional corporation, the obligations of
that member of the corporation to make records available to the
public shall, with respect to any records received from or created by
the corporation, be limited to those obligations contained in this
article, provided that if a record otherwise subject to this article
is distributed to a majority of the members of the governing body of
a state agency, including a constitutional corporation, for
consideration at a public meeting of that agency in open session in
connection with an item of business on the agency's meeting agenda,
such a record shall be made available to the public in accordance
with the laws applicable to that agency. Nothing in this article is
intended to prohibit any member from making information available to
the public.