Medi-Cal: unrecovered payments: interest rate.

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. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the Director of Health Care Services to establish administrative appeal processes to review grievances or complaints arising from the findings of an audit or examination. Under existing law, if recovery of a disallowed payment has been made by the department, a provider who prevails in an appeal of that payment is entitled to interest at the rate equal to the monthly average received on investments in the Surplus Money Investment Fund, or simple interest at the rate of 7% per annum, whichever is higher. Under existing law, with exceptions, interest at that same rate is assessed against any unrecovered overpayment due to the department. In the case of an assessment against any unrecovered overpayment due to the department, this bill would authorize the department to waive the interest, as part of a repayment agreement entered into with the provider, if the unrecovered overpayment occurred 4 or more years before the issuance of the first statement of account status or demand for repayment, after taking into account specified factors, including the impact of the repayment amounts on the fiscal solvency of the provider, and whether the overpayment was caused by a policy change or departmental error that was not the fault of the billing provider.