2426. (a) A licensee shall report to the board at the time of renewal of a license any financial interest that the licensee or a member of the licensee’s immediate family may have in a health-related facility. The report shall be made on a form provided by the board.
(b) For purposes of this section, all of the following shall apply:
(1) A “financial interest” includes, but is not limited to, any type of ownership interest, debt, loan, lease, compensation, remuneration, discount, rebate, refund, dividend, distribution, subsidy, or other form of direct or indirect payment, whether in money or otherwise, to a licensee or the licensee’s immediate family from a health-related facility.
(2) A “financial interest” also exists if there is an indirect relationship between a licensee and the health-related facility including, but not limited to, an arrangement whereby a licensee has an ownership interest in an entity that leases property to the health-related facility. Any financial interest transferred by a licensee to, or otherwise established in, any person or entity for the purpose of avoiding the reporting required by this section shall be deemed a financial interest of the licensee.
(3) A “financial interest” does not include a licensee’s ownership of corporate investment securities, including shares, bonds, or other debt instruments that are purchased from a licensed securities broker on terms that are available to the general public through a licensed securities exchange or NASDAQ, do not base profit distributions or other transfers of value on the licensee’s referral of persons to the corporation, do not have a separate class or accounting for any persons or for any licensees who may refer persons to the corporation, and are in a corporation that had, at the end of the corporation’s most recent fiscal year, total gross assets exceeding one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000).
(4) “Immediate family” includes a spouse, child, or parent of a licensee, and a spouse of a child of a licensee.
(5) “Licensee” means a physician and surgeon licensed pursuant to this chapter.
(6) A “health-related facility” shall include a facility for clinical laboratory services, radiation oncology, physical therapy, physical rehabilitation, psychometric testing, home infusion therapy, diagnostic imaging, and outpatient surgery centers. “Diagnostic imaging” shall include, but is not limited to, all X-ray, computed axial tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, mammography, and ultrasound goods and services.
(c) The information reported to the board shall be available to government agencies and public or private payers.
(d) The board may impose appropriate sanctions, including the issuance of a citation and civil penalty under Section 125.9, against any licensee who fails to comply with this section.
(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 1994.
(Added by renumbering Section 2097 by Stats. 1995, Ch. 279, Sec. 2.7. Effective January 1, 1996.)
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