Section 1250.7.

(a)  (1)  With respect to each hospital designated by the department as a critical access hospital, and certified as such by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services under the federal Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, the department may develop criteria to waive any requirements of Division 5 (commencing with Section 70001) of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations that are in conflict with the federal requirements for designation in the federal program, if the department finds that it is in the public interest to do so, and the department determines that the waiver would not negatively affect the quality of patient care.

(2)  The criteria established pursuant to this subdivision shall not be considered regulations within the meaning of Section 11342 of the Government Code, and shall not be subject to adoption as regulations pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(b)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to mean that a critical access hospital is not a general acute care hospital. Every hospital designated by the department as a critical access hospital and certified as such by the United States Department of Health and Human Services shall be deemed to be a general acute care hospital, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250, even if the department waives regulatory requirements otherwise applicable to general acute care hospitals pursuant to this section.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 752, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003.)