Medi-Cal: demonstration project.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits and services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides for a demonstration project, known as California's "Bridge to Reform" Medicaid demonstration project, under the Medi-Cal program until October 31, 2015, to implement specified objectives, including better care coordination for seniors and persons with disabilities and maximization of opportunities to reduce the number of uninsured individuals. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration Project Act, which revises hospital supplemental payment methodologies under the Medi-Cal program in order to maximize the use of federal funds consistent with federal Medicaid law and to stabilize the distribution of funding for hospitals that provide care to Medi-Cal beneficiaries and uninsured patients. This act provides for funding, in supplementation of Medi-Cal reimbursement, to various hospitals, including designated public hospitals, nondesignated public hospitals, and private hospitals, as defined, in accordance with certain provisions relating to disproportionate share hospitals. Existing law establishes both of the following continuously appropriated funds to be expended by the department: (1) The Demonstration Disproportionate Share Hospital Fund, which consists of federal funds claimed and received by the department as federal financial participation with respect to certified public expenditures. (2) The Public Hospital Investment, Improvement, and Incentive Fund, which consists of moneys that a county, other political subdivision of the state, or other governmental entity in the state elects to transfer to the department for use as the nonfederal share of investment, improvement, and incentive payments to participating designated public hospitals, nondesignated public hospitals, and the governmental entities with which they are affiliated, that provide intergovernmental transfers for deposit into the fund. Existing law requires the department to seek a subsequent demonstration project to implement specified objectives, including maximizing federal Medicaid funding for county public hospitals health systems and components that maintain a comparable level of support for delivery system reform in the county public hospital health systems as was provided under California's "Bridge to Reform" Medicaid demonstration project. This bill would establish the Medi-Cal 2020 Demonstration Project Act, under which the department is required to implement specified components of the subsequent demonstration project, referred to as California's Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project, consistent with the Special Terms and Conditions approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The bill would distinguish which payment methodologies and requirements under the Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration Project Act apply to the Medi-Cal 2020 Demonstration Project Act. The bill would, in this regard, retain the continuously appropriated Demonstration Disproportionate Share Hospital Fund, which will continue to consist of all federal funds received by the department as federal financial participation with respect to certified public expenditures, and would require moneys in this fund to be continuously appropriated, thereby making an appropriation, to the department for disbursement to eligible designated public hospitals. The bill would provide for a reconciliation process for disproportionate share hospital payment allocations and safety net care pool payment allocations that were paid to certain designated public hospitals, as specified. The bill would require the department to implement the Global Payment Program (GPP) , under which GPP systems, as defined, would be eligible to receive global payments that are calculated using a value-based point methodology, to be developed by the department, based on the health care they provide to the uninsured. The bill would provide that these global payments payable to GPP systems are in lieu of the traditional disproportionate share hospital payments and the safety net care pool payments previously made available under the Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration Project Act. The bill would establish the Global Payment Program Special Fund in the State Treasury, which would consist of moneys that a designated public hospital or affiliated governmental agency or entity elects to transfer to the department for deposit into the fund as a condition of participation in the program. The bill would provide that these funds shall be continuously appropriated, thereby making an appropriation, to the department to be used as the nonfederal share of global payment program payments authorized under California's Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project. The bill would require the department to establish and operate the Public Hospital Redesign and Incentives in Medi-Cal (PRIME) program, under which participating PRIME entities, as defined, would be eligible to earn incentive payments by undertaking specified projects set forth in the Special Terms and Conditions, for which there are required project metrics and targets. The bill would require the department to provide participating PRIME entities the opportunity to earn the maximum amount of funds authorized for the PRIME program under the demonstration project. The bill would retain the continuously appropriated Public Hospital Investment, Improvement, and Incentive Fund for purposes of making PRIME payments to participating PRIME entities. The Public Hospital Investment, Improvement, and Incentive Fund would consist of moneys that a designated public hospital or affiliated governmental agency or entity, or a district and municipal public hospital-affiliated governmental agency or entity, elects to transfer to the department for deposit into the fund. The bill would provide that these funds are continuously appropriated, thereby making an appropriation, to the department to be used as the nonfederal share of PRIME program payments authorized under California's Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project. The bill would require the department to amend its contract with its external quality review organization to complete an access assessment to, among other things, evaluate primary, core specialty, and facility access to care for managed care beneficiaries, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory committee to provide input into the structure of the access assessment, which would be comprised of specified stakeholders, including representatives from consumer advocacy organizations. The bill would provide that these provisions shall be implemented only to the extent that any necessary federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is available and is not otherwise jeopardized. The bill would require the department to seek any federal approvals it deems necessary to implement these provisions during the course of the demonstration term. The bill would authorize the department to implement the Medi-Cal 2020 Demonstration Project Act by means of all-county letters, provider bulletins, or other similar instructions without taking regulatory action. This bill would become operative only if AB 1568 of the 2015–16 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2017. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.