(a)

(1) Except as required by federal law, any payment made pursuant to this

article shall be exempt from any adjustments or deductions made to Medi-Cal payments to qualified clinics, including, but not limited to, provider withholds or provider payment reductions.

(2) Payments made pursuant to this

article to qualified clinics shall not be considered payments for patient care or medical services.

(3) The HCAI, in consultation with appropriate stakeholders, shall release guidance to instruct qualified clinics how to report this revenue through the established clinical annual utilization reports, as required under

Section of the Health and Safety Code. (

b) The department may enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts, on a bid or negotiated basis for purposes of implementing this article. A contract entered into or amended pursuant to this subdivision shall be exempt from

Chapter 6 (commencing with

Section 14825) of

Part 5.5 of Division of Title of the Government Code,

Section of the Government Code,

Part 2 (commencing with

Section 10100) of Division of the Public Contract Code, and from the State Administrative and State Contracting manuals, and shall be exempt from the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services. (

c) Notwithstanding

Chapter 3.5 (commencing with

Section 11340) of Part of Division of Title of the Government Code, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this article, in whole or in part, by means of information notices or other similar instructions, without taking any further regulatory action. (

d) This

article is a state law within the meaning of

Section 1621(

d) of Title of the United States Code. (

e) This

article shall be implemented only to the extent that the department determines that federal financial participation under the Medi-Cal program is not jeopardized. (

f) Funds distributed to qualified clinics and payments made by those qualified clinics pursuant to this

article shall not be factored into any reconciliation process or prospective payment system (PPS) rate calculation, including, but not limited to, the reconciliation process detailed in

Section 14132.100 of this code and subdivision (bb) of

Section 1396a of Title of the United States Code, to the maximum extent permissible by law.