Denti-Cal program: reimbursement rates.

Existing law provides for 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. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of benefits provided under the Medi-Cal program, which includes certain dental services that are referred to as Denti-Cal. Existing law, the California Healthcare, Research, and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016, or Proposition 56, which was approved by voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, increases taxes imposed on distributors of cigarettes and tobacco products and allocates a specified percentage of those revenues to the department to increase funding for existing health care programs under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law establishes the Healthcare Treatment Fund for this purpose. This bill would require the department, for the 2017–18 fiscal year, to double Denti-Cal provider reimbursement rates for the 15 most common prevention, treatment, and oral evaluation services based on the average rates per service established in the 2015–16 fiscal year. The bill would appropriate for the 2017–18 fiscal year such an amount as may be necessary to double the reimbursement rates from the Healthcare Treatment Fund to the department, as specified.