Health care provider emergency payments.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to contract with a provider for alternative rates of payment and authorizes a plan or insurer to seek reimbursement from a provider who has been overpaid for services. This bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care or the Insurance Commissioner to require a health care service plan or health insurer to provide specified payments and support to a provider during and at least 60 days after the end of a declared state of emergency or other circumstance if two conditions occur, as specified. The bill would require that, when determining the appropriate amount and type of support to be provided by the health care service plan or health insurer, the director or commissioner take specified factors into consideration, including whether the plan or insurer's providers have received support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans would be a crime, the 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.