Any person who knowingly and willfully charges, solicits, accepts, or receives, in addition to any amount payable under this chapter, any gift, money, contribution, donation, or other consideration as a precondition to providing services or merchandise to a Medi-Cal beneficiary for any service or merchandise in the Medi-Cal program’s scope of benefits in addition to a claim submitted to the Medi-Cal program under this chapter or Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 14200), except either:
(1) To collect payments due under a contractual or legal entitlement pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14000; or
(2) To bill a long-term care patient or representative for the amount of the patient’s share of the cost; or
(3) As provided under Section 14019.3, is punishable upon a first conviction by imprisonment in the county jail for not longer than one year or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code, or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both such imprisonment and fine. A second or subsequent conviction shall be punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 15, Sec. 631. (AB 109) Effective April 4, 2011. Operative October 1, 2011, by Sec. 636 of Ch. 15, as amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 39, Sec. 68.)