California legislators sent a record number of bills to Governor Newsom in 2024. Over 2,500 measures were introduced in early 2024, with 1,558 bills reaching the governor’s desk at the end of the legislative session in September 2024.
The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) has compiled a list of significant new healthcare laws for 2025, several of which provide avenues of new revenue:
AB 1842 (Reyes, D-Fontana)
Health care coverage: Medication-assisted treatment.
Requires health plans to provide coverage without prior authorization, step therapy, or utilization review for at least one FDA-approved medication in each of the following categories: opioid overdose reversal (e.g., naloxone), substance use disorder treatment (e.g., daily oral buprenorphine), long-acting buprenorphine, and long-acting injectable naltrexone.
AB 1991 (Bonta, D-Oakland)
Licensee and registrant renewal: National
Provider Identifier.
Requires physicians and other registrants to include their National Provider Identifier (NPI) when renewing their licenses electronically.
AB 2164 (Berman, D-Menlo Park)
Physicians and surgeons: licensure requirements: disclosure.
In an effort to destigmatize physicians from seeking mental health services, this bill prohibits the California Medical Board from requiring applicants to disclose certain conditions or disorders that do not impair their ability to practice medicine safely. Requires licensed physicians to complete and return a periodic questionnaire, either electronically or by mail, without disclosing prohibited information.
AB 2258 (Zbur, D-Los Angeles)
Health care coverage: cost sharing.
Removes cost sharing for essential preventive care services such as home test kits for sexually transmitted diseases and certain cancer screenings.
AB 2319 (Wilson, D-Suisun City)
California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act. (Training, Maternal Health)
Expands the required content for implicit bias training, mandating completion by June 1, 2025, for current physicians and health care clinicians, and within six months of the start date for new physicians and other health care clinicians.
AB 3030 (Calderon, D-Whittier)
Health care services: artificial intelligence. (AI)
Requires any health facility, clinic, or physician’s office using generative AI for patient communications to include a disclaimer indicating AI usage and provide clear instructions for contacting a physician or health care clinician.
SB 639 (Limón, D-Santa Barbara)
Medical professionals: course requirements.
Requires all general internists and family physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants with a patient population in which 25 percent of their patients are 65 years or older to complete at least 20 percent of their continuing medical education (CME) or continuing education (CE) requirements in the field of gerontology, the special care needs of patients with dementia, or the care of older patients.
SB 1320 (Wahab, D-Fremont)
Mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.
Mandates that health plans and disability insurers establish a reimbursement process for the provision of mental health and SUD services within primary care visits.
SB 1385 (Roth, D-Riverside)
Medi-Cal: community health workers (CHW): supervising providers.
Mandates that Medi-Cal managed care plans, by July 1, 2025, implement a process for supervising physicians and health care clinicians to be able to bill for CHW services during emergency visits and outpatient follow-up.
Top Ballot Measures Passed in 2024
Prop 35
Managed Health Care Tax
Makes permanent the existing tax on managed health care insurance plans and prevents the state from redirecting funding elsewhere. The tax is expected to boost health care funding by approximately $2 billion to $5 billion annually. Much of the funding will support an increase in Medi-Cal payment rates.
For additional information on new laws impacting physicians in 2025, visit the CAFP website at
https://www.familydocs.org/new-laws/
Gabriela Villanueva is CAP’s Government and External Affairs Analyst. Questions or comments related to this article should be directed to GVillanueva@CAPphysicians.com.