Child life specialist services.

Existing law establishes various programs and services for the promotion of child health, administered by the State Department of Public Health or the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health. This bill would require specified health practice settings to offer child life specialist services, as defined, and to meet certain conditions relating to the availability of child life specialists in those settings. Existing law establishes the California Children's Services Program (CCS Program) , which is a statewide program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and by counties, as specified, that provides medically necessary services for physically handicapped children whose parents are unable to pay for those services. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the department and 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 authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to establish, no sooner than July 1, 2017, a Whole Child Model program, under which managed care plans served by a county organized health system or Regional Health Authority in designated counties provide CCS Program services to Medi-Cal-eligible CCS children and youth. This bill would require the CCS Program to offer child life specialist services, and would require a child life specialist to comply with the provider paneling requirements of the program in order to participate as a program provider. This bill would require the transition of those child life specialist services into the Medi-Cal managed care health plan contract in Whole Child Model counties, as specified, and would require the department to obtain any necessary federal approvals to implement that transition. By creating new duties for counties in implementing child life specialist services under the CCS Program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.