SB 626 changes perinatal screening and treatment duties

What happened

California enacted SB 626 on September 30 as Chapter 973. Practitioners providing prenatal, postpartum, or perinatal care must ensure screening is offered or appropriately performed; a positive screen requires an offered or completed clinical evaluation, and a practitioner who diagnoses the condition must offer or provide treatment within scope. Referral to a practitioner authorized to screen, evaluate, diagnose, and treat can satisfy these duties. Emergency services and care are excepted. The defined condition concerns pregnancy or postpartum, follows the referenced clinical guidelines, and applies regardless of pregnancy outcome, including gender-diverse birthing people.

Plans and insurers must include one or more screenings during pregnancy and postpartum, use scope-appropriate clinical guidelines, coordinate positive-screen follow-up through existing programs, and retain compliance documentation. Delegated coordination must meet the specified existing-contract or statutory arrangements; the coordination paragraph expressly creates no new benefit. Specialized arrangements are generally excluded, with the identified professional behavioral-health exceptions, and Medicare supplement policies are excluded. Medi-Cal plan application depends on necessary federal approvals and available federal participation, while DHCS quality measures remain controlling. Encouraged drug, doula, and training measures should not be restated as new mandatory benefits.

Why it matters

A screening result requires a defined clinical follow-up pathway.

Sources

• SB626 enacted final textOfficial · California Legislature · 2026-09-30 · Source review 2026-10-11
• California Constitution, Article IV section 8(c), official Assembly 2023–24 editionOfficial · California State Assembly · Source review 2026-10-14