Medi-Cal: Assisted Living Waiver program.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services 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 requires the State Department of Health Care Services to develop a federal waiver program, known as the Assisted Living Waiver program, to test the efficacy of providing an assisted living benefit to beneficiaries under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law requires that the benefit include the care and supervision activities specified for residential care facilities for the elderly, and conditions the implementation of the program to the extent federal financial participation is available and funds are appropriated or otherwise available for the program. This bill would, subject to the department obtaining federal approval and on the availability of federal financial participation, require the department to submit to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services a request for an amendment of the Assisted Living Waiver program to increase its provider reimbursement tiers to compensate for mandatory minimum wage increases. The bill would require the department, before submitting the waiver amendment request, to conduct open in-person meetings with stakeholders, and to release a draft of the proposed waiver amendments for stakeholder comment. The bill would require the department to establish requirements and procedures to allow a person on the Assisted Living Waiver program's waiting list to know their position on the waiting list. If the Assisted Living Waiver program is combined with, or converted to, another program or programs providing for Medicaid home and community-based services, the bill would require these requirements to apply to the combined or converted program.