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.
(Added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 927, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1998.)