Recently approved regulations amended Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations section 1355.4 to require physicians licensed by the Medical Board of California (Board) to provide a notice to their patients about the role of the Board.

Beginning, January 1, 2023, all physicians licensed by the Board must provide notice to each patient that the physician is licensed and regulated by the Board, and the license can be checked and complaints against the licensee can be made through the Board’s website or by contacting the Board.

The notice shall include a quick response (QR) code that leads to the Board’s Notice to Consumer webpage at https://www.mbc.ca.gov/licensing/Notice-to-Consumers.aspx, and shall contain the following statement and information:

NOTICE TO PATIENTS

Medical doctors are licensed and regulated by the Medical Board of California. To check up on a license or to file a complaint go towww.mbc.ca.gov,

email: licensecheck@mbc.ca.gov,

or call (800) 633-2322.

Physicians may comply with this requirement by doing one of the following:

1. Post the notice in an area visible to patients on the premises where the physician provides the licensed services in at least 38-point type in Arial font;
2. Include the notice and an acknowledgement of receipt and understanding in a written statement in a language understood by the patient or patient representative, signed and dated by the patient or the patient representative and retained in that patient's medical records (the notice and acknowledgement of receipt and understanding may be provided and maintained in an electronic format); or
3. Include the notice in a language understood by the patient or patient representative in a statement on letterhead, discharge instructions, or other document given to a patient or the patient representative, where the notice is placed immediately above the signature line for the patient in at least 14-point type.

The Board will be posting the notice template with the QR code in the following languages on its Notice to Consumers webpage: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Farsi, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Punjabi, and Khmer.

If the physician chooses to post a sign to comply with the notice requirement, and the sign is not in a language understood by the patient or their representative, then the notice must be provided under option 2 or 3 above, so long as the Board has provided a translated notice understood by the patient or their representative on its Notice to Consumers webpage.

A physician will be deemed to be in compliance with this section if the hospital, clinic, or other practice location where the physician is practicing posts the notice on its premises in an area visible to patients consistent with the requirements of the regulation.

About this Requirement

Senate Bill (SB) 798 (Hill, Chapter 775, Statutes of 2017), required the Board to develop regulations that require all licensees and registrants of the Board to provide a notice to their patients and clients regarding the role of the Board (see Business and Professions Code section 2026). These regulations were approved by the Office of Administrative Law on November 28, 2022.

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