CALOPTIMA: State Allots Funding Increase
CalOPTIMA, which provides health care to Orange County's poor and disabled, has won a $42 million increase in annual funding from the state. Officials say the boost will enable the program to emerge from a four-year-period of "nominal or stagnant payments to providers," with fee increases varying from 8%-30%. The increased funding will help provide "better services and more physicians available for Medi-Cal patients," said Nancy Rimsha, a CalOPTIMA consumer representative. The increase in fees will also "encourage doctors and hospitals to stay in the CalOPTIMA system" as well as attract more physicians to the program, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sam Roth, a spokesperson for the Orange County Medical Association, said, "The good news is clearly the hospitals and physicians and health plans have received rate increases averaging 19%. The even better news is that within this new rate structure, they are getting a greater share of all dollars" (Warren, 9/9).
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