A key ruling this week in San Francisco Superior Court marks critical progress toward protecting the patient care that is increasingly jeopardized by the actions of the state Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA).
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Joseph M. Quinn ruled that the California Hospital Association’s (CHA’s) lawsuit against OHCA will be allowed to proceed. This decision sends two key signals: that OHCA’s decisions are already harming patient care, and that its actions are ripe for judicial review now.
“OHCA has routinely disregarded both the letter of the law and the concerns raised about how its decisions will only decrease access to health care services, not make care more affordable for Californians,” said CHA President & CEO Carmela Coyle. “The ruling underscores what hospitals have been saying for months: Lower costs cannot come at the expense of access to the lifesaving care on which Californians depend.”