14124.48. (Added November 5, 2024, by initiative Proposition 34, Sec. 1.)

(a) “Clinic” means an entity operating as one or more of the clinics described in Section 1204 of the Health and Safety Code.

(b) “Direct patient care” means the provision of medical services, dental services, pharmaceutical services, or behavioral health services directly administered to individual patients being treated for, or suspected of having, medical or behavioral health conditions. Direct patient care includes preventive care that is directly administered to patients. Further, in order to qualify as “direct patient care,” the services must be health care services that are regularly provided by other health care providers in the community or nonprofit community-based organizations that are also receiving reimbursements or payments from the Medi-Cal, Medicaid, or Medicare programs.

(c) “Discount prescription drug program” means the program established by Section 602 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, P.L. 102-585 Sec. 602, the Public Health Service Act (Sec. 340B; 42 U.S.C. Sec. 256b) that is administered by the Office of Pharmacy Affairs in the Health Resources and Services Administration within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

(d) “Enforcement agency” means any department of a state, county, or city agency within California that has the authority to inspect a multifamily dwelling and enforce health, safety, or building codes including, but not limited to, a building department or building division, a housing department, a housing and community investment department, a fire department or fire district, and a health department.

(f) “Health care service plan” means an entity operating as a health care service plan under the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code).

(g) “Medi-Cal Rx Program” means the program initially established pursuant to paragraph (1) of Executive Order N-01-19 and permanently authorized by Section 14124.42.

(h) “Multifamily dwelling” means any structure located in this state designed or used for human habitation or occupancy that has been divided into two or more independent living quarters.

(i) “Owner-operator of highly dangerous properties” means an entity, including any parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of that entity, that, either currently or previously, owns, operates, or is the responsible party for one or more multifamily dwellings that meet or met the following conditions during the time of the entity’s ownership, operation, or responsibility:

(1) One or more of the multifamily dwellings was inspected on one or more occasions by an enforcement agency or officer thereof.

(2) The enforcement agencies or officers issued one or more notices or inspection reports identifying violations affecting the health and safety of occupants of the multifamily dwellings.

(3) Cumulatively across all of the multifamily dwellings, the notices or inspection reports described in paragraph (2) identified a combined total of at least 500 violations that were categorized in violation severity level “high.”

(j) “Pharmacy” means an entity operating pursuant to Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 4000) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code.

(k) (1) “Pharmacy sales agreement” means any agreement involving a pharmacy and another entity that purchases, authorizes, or obtains prescription drugs through the discount prescription drug program where both of the following conditions exist:

(A) The pharmacy dispenses drugs negotiated by the other entity through or pursuant to the discount prescription drug program.

(B) The price charged by the pharmacy for the drugs described in subparagraph (A), excluding dispensing fees, exceeds the purchase price negotiated or paid by the other entity pursuant to or through the discount prescription drug program.

(2) A pharmacy sales agreement can exist between unrelated entities, or between related entities that are parents, subsidiaries, or affiliates of one another or otherwise under common ownership or control.

(l) “Prescription drug price manipulator” means an entity, including any parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of that entity, that individually or collectively with one or more of its parents, subsidiaries, or affiliates meets all of the following requirements:

(1) The entity purchases, negotiates, authorizes, or obtains prescription drugs through the discount prescription drug program.

(2) During any 10-calendar-year period of its existence, the entity spent more than one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) on purposes that do not qualify as direct patient care.

(3) The entity currently is, or has previously been, an owner-operator of highly dangerous properties.

(4) The entity meets at least one of the following conditions:

(A) The entity currently has, or previously had, one or more licenses to operate as a health care service plan.

(B) The entity currently contracts, or has previously contracted, with the State Department of Health Care Services as a primary care case management organization pursuant to Article 2.9 (commencing with Section 14088) of Chapter 7 of Part 3 of Division 9.

(C) The entity currently contracts, or has previously contracted, with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide services in the Medicare Program as a Medicare special needs plan.

(D) The entity currently has, or previously had, one or more licenses to operate as a pharmacy.

(E) The entity currently has, or previously had, one or more licenses to operate as a clinic.