(1) Existing law establishes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) , under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The office is vested with all the duties, powers, purposes, and responsibilities of the State Department of Public Health relating to health planning and research development. Existing law creates the health care workforce clearinghouse to serve as the central source of health care workforce and education data in the state to collect data regarding health care workers, including the supply of health care workers and current and forecasted demand for health care workers.
This bill would rename the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as the Department of Health Care Access and Information. The bill would repeal numerous duties and programs currently carried out by the OSHPD, including, among others, rural health care transition oversight, the Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Program, and the Postsurgical Care Demonstration Project.
This bill would eliminate the health care workforce clearinghouse and establish the California Health Workforce Research and Data Center to serve as the state's central source of health care workforce and education data and to inform state policy regarding health care workforce issues. The bill would establish uniform requirements for the reporting and collection of workforce data from health care-related licensing boards to the data center and make related conforming changes. The bill would require the department to maintain the confidentiality of licensee information collected pursuant to these provisions and would only authorize the department to release the information in aggregate form.
Existing law makes the office responsible for administering various programs with respect to the health care professions. Existing law establishes various programs to facilitate the expansion of the health care workforce in rural and underserved communities, including, but not limited to, the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program and the California Registered Nurse Education Program. Existing law requires the office to establish a nonprofit public benefit corporation known as the Health Professions Education Foundation to perform various duties with respect to implementing health professions scholarship and loan programs. Existing law also establishes the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission to, among other things, identify specific areas of the state where unmet priority needs for primary care family physicians and registered nurses exist and to make recommendations to the Director of Statewide Health Planning and Development with regard to the funding of specific programs.
This bill would dissolve the Health Professions Education Foundation, but would authorize the department to continue various foundation programs, such as the California Registered Nurse Education Program. The bill would also eliminate the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission and replace it with the California Health Workforce Education and Training Council to plan and coordinate California's approach to health workforce education and training in order to develop a health workforce to meet statewide health care needs. The bill would change the composition of the membership of the council and would authorize the council, among other things, to make recommendations to the department regarding the use of health care education and training funds and advocate for additional funds and additional sources of funds to stimulate graduate medical education expansion in California. The bill would make related conforming changes to existing provisions.
This bill would require the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program to be implemented at colleges and universities, as specified, with priority given to campuses in medically underserved areas or with students from groups underrepresented in medicine, demonstrated commitment to diversity and associated institutional change, a track record of providing tailored student support, and strong health professions school partnerships, as specified.
Existing law authorizes the office to oversee various aspects of the health care market, including oversight of hospital facilities and community benefit plans. Existing law also requires the office to adopt and enforce regulations prescribing building standards for the adequacy and safety of health facility physical plants.
This bill would make necessary conforming changes to these provisions to reflect the reorganization of the office to the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
(2) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime.
This bill would require the department, on or before March 1, 2022, to convene a Health Equity and Quality Committee to make recommendations to the department for standard health equity and quality measures, including annual benchmark standards for assessing equity and quality in health care delivery. The bill would require the department to consider the committee's recommendations and to establish standard measures and annual benchmarks for equity and quality in health care delivery. The bill would require a health care service plan, including a Medi-Cal managed care plan not licensed by the department, to annually submit to the department a report containing equity and quality data and information. The bill would require the department to review a health care service plan's equity and quality report to determine the plan's compliance with the health equity and quality standard measures and annual benchmarks established by the department. The bill would authorize the department to take certain actions against a health care service plan that does not demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the bill, including requiring a health care service plan to implement corrective action to achieve and demonstrate compliance with the standard measures and annual benchmarks, monitoring a corrective action plan, and assessing administrative penalties, as provided. The bill would require the department, commencing in 2025, and annually thereafter, to publish on its internet website a Health Equity and Quality Compliance Report. The bill would authorize the department to implement the bill by means of all-plan letters or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action until January 1, 2027. The bill would require a health care service plan, but not a Medi-Cal managed care plan, to be accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance on or before January 1, 2026. Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, the schedule of benefits includes the purchase of prescribed drugs, subject to the Medi-Cal List of Contract Drugs and utilization controls. Existing law excludes nonlegend cough, cold, and acetaminophen-containing products from the schedule of benefits, with prescribed exceptions, such as children's acetaminophen-containing products.
This bill would expand, on July 1, 2021, the Medi-Cal schedule of benefits to include nonlegend cough, cold, and acetaminophen-containing products.
(4) Existing law establishes that the Medi-Cal program covers specified health care services, including substance use disorder treatment, pursuant to a state plan. Under existing law, the Director of Health Care Services has those powers and duties to conform to requirements for securing approval of a state plan under federal law, and, pursuant to this authority, the director secured approval for the state plan to include clinical preventive services that are assigned a grade of A or B by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, including adult Alcohol Misuse Screening and Behavioral Counseling Interventions in Primary Care, such as screening for misuse of opioids and other illicit drugs. Existing law requires the department to seek federal approval to expand the Medi-Cal benefit for adult Alcohol Misuse Screening and Behavioral Counseling Interventions in Primary Care to include screening for misuse of opioids and other illicit drugs, and suspends the implementation of these provisions on December 31, 2021, unless specified circumstances apply.
This bill would repeal obsolete law on the department's obligation to seek federal approval to expand the above-specified benefit and the suspension of the implementation of those provisions.
(5) Under existing law governing the Medi-Cal program, health care services are rendered by enrolled Medi-Cal providers, who are subject to specified requirements relating to provider enrollment. Existing federal law requires a state Medicaid program to implement electronic visit verification for prescribed Medicaid services, including personal care services and home health services that require an in-home visit by a provider.
This bill would authorize the department to undertake action to implement an electronic visit verification system for purposes of obtaining and maintaining federal approval or ensuring federal financial participation is available or not otherwise jeopardized, and to partner and contract with specified governmental entities, including the State Department of Social Services, to comply with federal requirements on electronic visit verification. If a provider renders Medi-Cal services that are subject to electronic visit verification, the bill would require the provider to comply with requirements on electronic visit verification, as established by the department and its partners, and would authorize the department and its partners to take prescribed action, such as requiring an approved correction action plan, to address a provider's noncompliance of those requirements. The bill would authorize the department and its partners to enter into contracts to implement these provisions, and to implement these provisions by various means, including provider bulletins.
(6) Under existing federal and state law, Medi-Cal is required to be the payer of last resort if a Medi-Cal beneficiary has other health coverage in addition to Medi-Cal. To assess overlapping or duplicate health coverage, existing law requires specified other health coverage entities to maintain a centralized file with specified information about their subscribers, enrollees, or policyholders, and to make this information available to the department upon reasonable request by the department.
Under existing law, other health coverage entities that are legally responsible for payment of a claim for a health care item or service are required to provide specified information to the department, at the department's request, upon certification by the department that the information requested is pertaining to an individual that is an applicant for, recipient of, or legally responsible person for an applicant for, or recipient of, Medi-Cal services. Existing law requires the department to enter into cooperative agreements with other health coverage entities to establish mutually agreeable procedures for requesting and furnishing specified information to the department about a beneficiary's other health coverage and provides for the reimbursement, as specified, of other health coverage entities for complying with these provisions.
This bill would add to the list of other health coverage entities subject to these provisions all health entities licensed by the Department of Insurance, third-party administrators, and union trusts. The bill would also add new categories of information that the other health coverage entities are required to maintain about a subscriber, policyholder, enrollee, or insured. The bill would require other health coverage entities to enter into a cooperative agreement with the department for the provision of specified information, rather than placing this requirement on the department. The bill would require that the information provided pursuant to these cooperative agreements be provided to the department within 90 days of the department's request for the information, at no cost to the department, eliminating the existing reimbursement provisions.
The bill would require that the subscriber, policyholder, enrollee, or insured information required to be maintained in the centralized file be provided to the department, at least once a month, in a format specified by the department. The bill would also require this information be provided to the department's agents and Medi-Cal managed care plans upon reasonable request. The bill would require the specified entities to provide the department with real-time, electronic eligibility verification, at no cost, and in a form and manner specified by the department. The bill would also authorize the department to implement these requirements by means of policy letter, information notice, or other similar instruction, without taking any further regulatory action.
(7) Existing law excludes specified optional services from coverage in the Medi-Cal program, including audiology services, optometric services, podiatric services, and incontinence creams and washes, among others. Notwithstanding this exclusion, existing law restores coverage for specified optional benefits, including audiology services, optometric services, podiatric services, and incontinence creams and washes. Existing law suspends these optional benefits on December 31, 2021, unless specified conditions occur.
This bill would delete the provisions suspending these optional benefits.
(8) Under existing law, an individual is eligible for Medi-Cal benefits, to the extent required by federal law, as though the individual was pregnant, for all pregnancy-related and postpartum services for a 60-day period beginning on the last day of pregnancy. Existing law, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, extends Medi-Cal eligibility for a pregnant individual who receives health care coverage under the Medi-Cal program, or another related program, and who has been diagnosed with a maternal mental health condition, for a period of one year following the last day of the individual's pregnancy if the individual complies with certain requirements. Existing law suspends implementation of these provisions on December 31, 2021, unless specified circumstances apply.
This bill would remove the conditional suspension of the above Medi-Cal eligibility extension. The bill would make those provisions on eligibility extension inoperative upon implementation of the extended eligibility provisions described below, and would restore their operation if the provisions below are no longer implemented. The bill would require the department to determine the implementation status of the provisions below and to post, on its internet website, notice of its determination.
The bill would instead extend eligibility for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits for a pregnant individual or targeted low-income child who is eligible for and is receiving health care coverage under the Medi-Cal program, or another related program, for the duration of the pregnancy and for a period of one year following the last day of the individual's pregnancy, without conditioning the extended eligibility to a diagnosis of a maternal mental health condition.
The bill would require the department to seek any necessary federal approvals for these purposes. Coverage under these provisions would commence on April 1, 2022, or the effective date or dates reflected in any necessary federal approvals obtained by the department, whichever is later. The bill would make implementation of these provisions subject to an appropriation, receipt of any necessary federal approvals, except as specified, and the availability of federal financial participation.
The bill would make conforming changes to related provisions.
Because counties are required to make eligibility determinations, and this bill would expand Medi-Cal eligibility, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(9) The California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016, an initiative measure approved as Proposition 56 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, increases taxes imposed on distributors of cigarettes and tobacco products and requires all revenues to be deposited into the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. That act allocates those revenues for specified purposes, including $30,000,000 to provide funding to the State Department of Public Health state dental program for the purpose and goal of educating about, preventing, and treating dental disease, including dental disease caused by the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Under existing law, if there is a reduction in revenues resulting from a reduction in the consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products due to the additional taxes imposed on cigarettes, the amount of funds allocated to specified programs, including the state dental program, is required to be reduced proportionally.
This bill would, contingent upon a reduction in allocations to the state dental program, backfill the reduced amount by continuously appropriating moneys from the General Fund in an amount equivalent to the required reduction, so that the total funding for the state dental program remains at $30,000,000 annually. By continuously appropriating moneys from the General Fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
(10) Existing law allocates a specified percentage of those revenues to the department to increase funding for the Medi-Cal program, in a manner that, among other things, ensures timely access, limits specific geographic shortages of services, or ensures quality care. Existing law establishes the Healthcare Treatment Fund for this purpose.
Existing law authorizes the department to use those funds to make supplemental payments or rate increases for specified service categories, including physician services, dental services, and home health providers, and programs, including value-based payment (VBP) programs. Existing law suspends the department's ability to make those supplemental payments and rate increases after July 1, 2021, unless specified conditions apply, including that the estimates of General Fund revenue and expenditures for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years contain estimated annual General Fund revenues that exceed estimated annual General Fund expenditures for those fiscal years by an amount equal to or greater than the sum total of all General Fund appropriations for other specified programs subject to suspension.
This bill would repeal these provisions imposing the suspension.
Existing law requires the department to develop, using moneys appropriated in the Budget Act for this purpose from the Healthcare Treatment Fund, VBP programs that require designated Medi-Cal managed care plans to make incentive payments to qualified network providers in behavioral health integration (BHI) , prenatal and postpartum care, and chronic disease management for prescribed purposes. Existing law makes the VBP programs inoperative on July 1,