Regulator Hits Molina Healthcare With Six-Figure Fine Over Significant Lapses In The Insurer’s Grievance Process
The Department of Managed Health Care found 44 instances where Molina violated state statutes and regulations, including 13 incidents where an enrollee’s grievance was not adequately considered, investigated and rectified.
The California Health Report:
Molina Healthcare Slapped With Large Fine For Lapses In Handling Grievances
A California regulator has imposed a six-figure fine on Molina Healthcare for significant lapses in the insurer’s grievance process for enrollees. It’s the third large fine imposed on Molina related to its handling of enrollee grievances since 2015. Molina, which is based in Long Beach and has enrollment of about 630,000 statewide, is one of the largest Medicaid managed care and Children’s Health Insurance Plan companies in the United States. It also provides Medicare coverage and sells individual policies through the Covered California health insurance exchange. (Shinkman, 1/9)
In other news from across the state —
KPBS:
San Diego Schools Get Boost In Federal Funds For Disadvantaged Kids
Next year, San Diego Unified schools will get tens of thousands of dollars in extra federal funding to help disadvantaged students. District trustees have approved a plan for the central office to relinquish control over more than $8.2 million it traditionally spends on things like district-wide professional development. (Burks, 1/9)
East Bay Times:
Health District Gets Reprieve From Dissolution
A Contra Costa Superior Court judge on Wednesday granted Los Medanos Community Health Care District a temporary stay, halting its potential dissolution by the commission that oversees such agencies. The health-care district filed a lawsuit for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Local Agency Formation Commission from making a decision on its dissolution at its regular meeting later that same day. While giving the long-embattled district a temporary reprieve, Judge Steven Austin also allowed the commission to move forward with a dissolution vote as long as it was not recorded before the next court hearing on Feb. 7. (Prieve, 1/9)
The Desert Sun:
Riverside County Doctor's License May Be Revoked Following Threatening Actions, Found Firearms
The medical license of a Riverside County family physician is in jeopardy after police found several unaccounted firearms in his home following an episode of psychosis. A petition filed by the director of the Medical Board of California against Dr. Michael Simental of Corona, who works for a Kaiser Permanente medical office in Riverside, was filed on Dec. 18. The move to have the board revoke his medical license comes after Simental was put on probation for two years in 2016 in an unrelated case of improperly prescribing controlled substances. (Hayden, 1/10)
Modesto Bee:
Turlock’s Homeless Move Again After Third Park Cleanup
A few dozen homeless people who had been living in Turlock’s Broadway Park were on the move again Wednesday after city workers removed what the city said was illegally stored personal property. While Turlock officials say the city is not kicking homeless people out of the park and only enforcing a city ordinance against the storage of personal property in public places, some of the homeless had a different perspective. (Valine, 1/9)