The California Association of Nurse Anesthesiology has sued the California Department of Public Health and the Office of Administrative Law. The suit alleges that state regulations improperly bar certified registered nurse anesthetists from serving on hospital medical staff.
CANA filed the complaint Oct. 1 in San Francisco County Superior Court, according to an Oct. 17 news release from the association. CANA is asking the court to strike down the disputed regulations.
The association argues that the rules conflict with state law, which lets hospital medical staff include licensed practitioners deemed competent in their fields. CANA also contends that CDPH exceeded its authority by restricting decisions that belong to each hospital’s medical staff.
“Although state law allows for hospitals to choose who is on medical staff, the Department’s restrictive regulations interfere with that right,” said Alison Trejo, executive director of CANA. Ms. Trejo added that the barriers “have already caused dangerous disruptions in patient care.”
The dispute dates to 2024, when state investigators questioned how CRNAs were credentialed and supervised at Doctors Medical Center and Stanislaus Surgical Hospital, both in Modesto, Calif. CANA said the enforcement actions that followed removed CRNAs from medical staff and led to the cancellation of nearly 1,000 surgical procedures in underserved communities.
CANA petitioned CDPH to revise the regulations in 2023, and the American Nurses Association\California filed a similar petition in 2024. CDPH denied both in September 2025.
Similar enforcement could disrupt surgical services in the Fresno area, especially at rural hospitals with limited anesthesia staffing.
Becker’s has reached out to CANA, CDPH and the Office of Administrative Law and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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