Sickle cell disease.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Health Care Services, and requires the department to administer various health programs, including the Genetically Handicapped Persons Program, under which medical care is provided to persons with genetically handicapping conditions, including sickle cell disease. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to make grants or contracts for demonstration projects to determine the feasibility of alternate methods of testing for sickle cell disease, to provide counseling services, to evaluate the social consequences of the identification of sickle cell trait carriers, to provide training in genetic counseling, and to conduct research on the prevention of sickle cell disease. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services, to establish a 3-year sickle cell disease center pilot program that would utilize a competitive grant program to establish 5 sickle cell disease centers as special care centers. The bill would require the centers to link outpatient care to inpatient care, and provide coordinated, comprehensive, team-based medical, behavioral health, mental health, social support, and surveillance services to adults with sickle cell disease. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health, among other things, to enhance statewide surveillance of sickle cell disease. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025. The bill would appropriate $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Public Health for implementation and administration of the pilot program. By appropriating these moneys from the General Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.