Food prescriptions.

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, including enteral nutrition products, pursuant to a schedule of benefits, and subject to utilization controls, such as prior authorization. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to establish a Medically Tailored Meals Pilot Program to operate for a period of 4 years from the date the program is established, or until funding is no longer available, whichever date is earlier, in specified counties, including the Counties of Alameda and Sonoma, to provide medically tailored meal intervention services to Medi-Cal participants with specified health conditions, such as diabetes and renal disease. This bill would require the department to establish, no earlier than January 1, 2022, a pilot program for a 2-year period in the Counties of Alameda, Fresno, and San Bernardino to provide food prescriptions to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries, including individuals who have a specified chronic health condition, such as Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, when utilizing evidence-based practices that demonstrate the prevention, treatment, or reversal of those specified diseases. The bill would authorize the department, in consultation with stakeholders, to establish utilization controls, including the limitation on food prescriptions, and to enter into contracts for purposes of implementing the pilot program. The bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan or their contractor that participates in the pilot program to establish procedures for referring and enrolling eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries in the pilot program. The bill would require the department to evaluate the pilot program upon its conclusion, to report to the Legislature on those findings, and to implement these provisions by various means, including provider bulletins, without taking regulatory action. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Alameda, Fresno, and San Bernardino.