MEDI-CAL: Budget Committee Votes to Raise Reimbursement Rates
The Joint State-Assembly Budget Committee yesterday voted to raise Medi-Cal rates for doctors, nursing homes and home-care providers. The increases -- up to 10% -- would be the first in eight years for many providers and are expected to total $90 million. Chuck Idelson of the California Nurses Association said, "Fewer providers have been participating because they lose money on the rates. Fewer (Medi-Cal) providers means fewer people getting care, so underfunding acts to the detriment of all Californians." State Sen. Steve Peace (D-El Cajon), the committee's ranking member, said, "Our rates are so ridiculous that they've become a threat to the quality of all health care." The AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the largest part of the expenditure will be $36 million for nursing homes, designed to raise staffing levels (6/3).
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