Medi-Cal: ambulance transportation services: reimbursement: service levels.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services, including medical transportation services, are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is partially governed and funded under federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law and regulations prescribe various requirements governing payment policies and reimbursement rates for these services. This bill would authorize the department to utilize certain service levels for purposes of determining billing codes for emergency and nonemergency basic life and advance life support transportation and specialty care transportation. If the department utilizes the aforementioned service levels to determine billing codes, this bill would require the department to, by June 30, 2011, adopt the definitions and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes for those service levels that have been established by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and to determine the above described billing codes in a revenue-neutral manner.