Bichai

FACTS

Defendant DaVita, Inc., is a Delaware corporation that owns and operates several dialysis facilities in California’s Central Valley. The medical staff at the DaVita facilities are formed by the physicians practicing there. The medical staff is accountable to both the facility’s governing body and to DaVita for the quality of medical services provided. The medical staff’s activities are governed by the “Medical Staff Bylaws, Rules and Regulations” (Bylaws) that the DaVita Physician Council approved in 2015. The Bylaws describe the nature of medical staff membership and clinical privileges, the procedures for appointment and reappointment to the medical staff,

Subsequent unlabeled statutory references are to the Business and Professions Code.

2. categories of medical staff, and how the medical staff is governed. Article XIII of the Bylaws, titled “FAIR HEARING PLAN,” addresses (1) the decisions that trigger a physician’s right to a hearing, (2) the process for requesting and scheduling the hearing, (3) the procedural steps that must be completed before the hearing, and (4) procedures for the hearing itself. The right to a hearing is triggered by the denial of…