(a) The prepaid health plan shall maintain financial records and shall have an annual audit or additional audits after a determination by the director of good cause, performed by an independent certified public accountant. A prepaid health plan operated by a public entity shall have an annual audit performed in a manner approved by the department. All certified financial statements shall be filed with the department as soon as practical after the end of the prepaid health plan’s fiscal year and in any event, within a period not to exceed 90 days thereafter. These financial statements shall be filed with the department and shall be public records. The department shall perform routine auditing of prepaid health plan contractors and their affiliated subcontractors. Except in those instances where major unanticipated obstacles prevent, or after a determination by the director of good cause, the audits shall be scheduled and carried out jointly with audits carried out pursuant to the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, or to Chapter 11A (commencing with Section 11491) of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Insurance Code, as appropriate, if audits under either act are carried out within time periods which satisfy the requirements of federal law. The department is authorized to contract with the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, as appropriate, to carry out the audits required by this section. The prepaid health plan shall make all of its books and records available for inspection, examination or copying by the department during normal working hours at the prepaid health plan’s principal place of business or at such other place in California as the department shall designate. For good cause, the department may grant an exception to the time when annual financial statements are to be submitted to the department. The annual report required in Section 14313 shall include an itemization of expenditures made by each prepaid health plan for the following categories of expenditures: physician services, inpatient and outpatient hospital services, pharmaceutical services and prescription drugs, dental services, medical transportation services, vision care services, mental health services, laboratory services, X-ray services, enrollee education programs, marketing and enrollment costs, data-processing costs, other administrative costs and health service expenditures and any payments made to subcontractors, and the purposes of the payments, including but not limited to, contributions to election campaigns.

(b) The requirements of a financial and administrative review by the department of any health care service plan licensed by the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care pursuant to Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code may be waived upon submission of the financial audit for the same period conducted by the Department of Managed Health Care pursuant to Section 1382 of the Health and Safety Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 857, Sec. 95. Effective January 1, 2001.)