Dr. Ryan Kime was the subject of a disciplinary proceeding by the Medical Board of California, which resulted in a public reprimand. While that proceeding was ongoing, Kime applied for privileges in the emergency department of two hospitals owned by Dignity Health, Inc. (Dignity). The hospitals stopped processing Kime’s application a few days after the effective date of the reprimand, and Kime subsequently sued Dignity for injunctive relief and damages, alleging that Dignity violated his common law and statutory rights by denying his application without offering him a hearing.
Dignity moved for summary judgment, or in the alternative, summary adjudication, arguing among other things that it had established a policy that it would not consider applicants with disciplinary histories for emergency department privileges, and that no hearing is required when privileges are denied because of the implementation of such a policy. Simultaneously, Kime moved for summary adjudication on the issue of Dignity’s duty to provide notice and a hearing after denying his application.
The trial court granted Dignity’s motion for summary judgment and denied as moot Kime’s motion for summary adjudication. Kime now appeals from the resulting judgment, and we affirm.