Medi-Cal: unrecovered payments: interest rate.

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 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 require the department to waive the interest, as part of a repayment agreement entered into with the provider, if the latest date of service for a retroactive payment adjustment or audit period end date for the unrecovered overpayment occurred 4 or more years before the issuance of the first statement of account status or demand for repayment, and the department determines that certain factors apply. Under the bill, those factors would include, among others, 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 caused by the billing provider. The bill would preserve the rights of the department to seek all remedies available at law if a provider defaults on a repayment plan. This bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions, in whole or in part, by means of information notices, all-county letters, or other similar instructions without taking regulatory action.