Medi-Cal: supplemental provider reimbursement.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, pursuant to which medical benefits are provided to public assistance recipients and certain other low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program, which includes medical transportation, and authorizes the department to prescribe polices and regulations as necessary to carry out the Medi-Cal program, including setting rates for payment of services. This bill would provide that an eligible provider, as described, may receive supplemental Medi-Cal reimbursement, in addition to the rate of payment that the provider would otherwise receive, for Medi-Cal ground emergency medical transportation services and that the supplemental reimbursement shall be equal to the amount of federal financial participation the department receives as a result of claims submitted for expenditures for services, as specified. This bill would require the department to promptly seek any necessary federal approvals for the implementation of these provisions, including obtaining approval from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the specified payment methodology to be used to distribute the supplemental reimbursement. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.