The short answer for California. Required before treatment; the exam is a physician act that cannot be handed to a non-licensee.
A good faith exam is a clinical evaluation by a licensed provider, before treatment, establishing that the treatment is appropriate for that patient. What differs between states is who is allowed to perform it, whether it may happen remotely, and what has to be documented. This page sets out what we have verified for California against primary sources, and says so plainly where a question is unsettled.
Who may perform the good faith exam in California
Required before treatment; the exam is a physician act that cannot be handed to a non-licensee.
Medical director. MD or DO.
Delegation and supervision. Standing orders are the usual instrument, but some counsel read SB 351 to require patient-specific orders. That reading is aggressive and not settled.
The gate that catches operators in California
SB 351 (signed 6 Oct 2025, effective 1 Jan 2026) bars private-equity and management entities from controlling treatment options, patient quotas or competency-based staffing. AG enforcement: injunctions, attorneys’ fees, penalties.
SB 351 changed what a management agreement may say. Agreements drafted before 2026 should be re-read, not renewed.
What makes the exam defensible
Nobody is ever asked to produce a good faith exam on a good day. The request arrives after a complication, a board complaint, an insurance audit or a buyer’s diligence. Five things decide whether what you hand over helps you:
- A qualified practitioner, permitted in that state, actually performed it.
- A real evaluation happened — history, indications, contraindications, and a decision.
- The treatment plan and the order are specific: drug or device, site, dose or settings.
- Informed consent was taken and recorded before treatment, not after.
- The record still exists, unaltered and retrievable, two years later when somebody asks.
Only the first of those is state-specific. The other four fail in exactly the same way in California as everywhere else, and they are where most exam processes actually break — not on the licence question, but on documentation nobody kept.
How California sits on structure
Corporate practice of medicine. Yes — the strictest in the country.
The exam and the structure are separate questions and they fail separately. A perfectly documented exam performed inside an entity that may not lawfully deliver the service is still a problem, and a clean entity does not save a rubber-stamped exam. See medical direction in California for the structure side.
What MDside provides in California
- California-licensed physicians performing the exam themselves — not a queue of signatures.
- A written evaluation, treatment plan and order per patient, in a record you keep and can export.
- Protocols and delegation written to California, matched to the services actually on your menu.
- A named California medical director doing the work, where your structure needs one.
- 503A and 503B pharmacy relationships and in-house lab draws where the treatment calls for them.
Book a call and we will read your current exam process against the five tests above, in California and any other state you operate in. The review is free and you are not obliged to use us for the fix.
Read the detail on California
Frequently asked questions
Who can perform a good faith exam in California?
Required before treatment; the exam is a physician act that cannot be handed to a non-licensee.
Can the exam be done by telehealth in California?
That depends on the state rule above and on the treatment. Where we have verified a restriction it is stated on this page; where the position is unsettled we say so rather than guess, and we confirm it with the board before you build a remote funnel.
Does California require a physician medical director?
MD or DO.
What happens if the exam is not documented?
The exam effectively did not happen. In a complaint, an audit or a sale, an undocumented evaluation is treated as no evaluation — which is why the record, not the call, is the thing you are actually buying.
Primary sources for California: Cal. SB 351 (2025); AB 1415 (OHCA pre-transaction notice). Last reviewed 2026-09-03. Corrections are welcome and get made: contact us.
General information about good faith exams and practice structure in California, not legal advice. Requirements differ by state and change often. Confirm your obligations with healthcare counsel licensed in California.