Latest California Healthline Stories
Tulare County Hospitals Want to Form LIHP
Senate member Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) is not interested in leaving federal health care dollars on the table.
That’s why she introduced a bill last week in the Senate Committee on Health that would enable local hospital districts in Tulare County to gain access to about $4.5 million in federal money over the next 18 months for a local Low Income Health Program (LIHP).
“Under current law, the county’s non-participation [in LIHP] precludes hospitals from leveraging the federal dollars that are available under the Medicaid waiver,” Fuller said last week in a Senate health hearing. “We can improve health care access with this, particularly in rural areas.”
‘We’ll Deal With it Then’: The State of Play if ACA is Struck Down
Most states — even some that have sued the government over the Affordable Care Act — are preparing contingency plans whether the law is upheld or struck down. But not all states are equally ready to respond.
New Adult Program Launches With a Few Issues Still To Be Resolved
It was January 2011 when the governor first red-lined the Adult Day Health Care program for elimination as a Medi-Cal benefit. Since then, it has been rescued, cut in half, eliminated altogether, reinstated and replaced.
Yesterday the replacement program, Community Based Adult Services, went into effect. For about 32,000 former beneficiaries of ADHC, the changeover will go relatively unnoticed. Most of the currently open centers are expected to remain open, and CBAS benefits are similar to those in the now extinct ADHC program.
“It’s a culmination of months of hard work, developing a program that’s appropriate and useful for former ADHC participants,” Norman Williams of the Department of Health Care Services said. “We had a goal of a program that would allow people to remain independent and living in the community.”
The CBAS era has officially begun.
Late Friday night, CMS approved implementation of the Community Based Adult Services program. That means the state has successfully eliminated adult day health care as a Medi-Cal benefit, and is replacing it with CBAS, starting today.
According to officials from the Department of Health Care Services, almost 32,000 of the nearly 40,000 ADHC beneficiaries have been deemed eligible for CBAS. That’s more than 80% of the ADHC population.
Community Rallies To Keep Kern Residency Program on Track
When the biggest hospital in Kern County decided to cut back its family practice residency program, the rural community reacted quickly and loudly, forcing the Bakersfield hospital to reinstate the program to its previous level.
State: DHCS Contempt Motion Won’t Delay New Program Launch
Attorneys gathered in U.S. District Court yesterday morning to argue whether or not the state Department of Health Care Services should be found in contempt of court for its handling of the adult day health transition.
That argument will wait a week, at least. After meeting two hours yesterday, the two sides agreed to delay court proceedings.
“At this point the parties have been working on a possible solution. We hope to have a decision by next Friday,” Disability Rights California attorney Elissa Gershon told the federal magistrate hearing the case.
Ironing Out Details of Duals Conversion
State officials met with stakeholders in Sacramento yesterday to answer questions and work out the final details of the duals demonstration project — an ambitious plan to enroll an estimated 700,000 dual-eligible Californians in 10 counties into Medi-Cal managed care.
Enrollment will be mandatory for beneficiaries eligible for both Medi-Cal and Medicare. Jane Ogle, deputy director of health care delivery systems at the Department of Health Care Services, was quick to point out that beneficiaries would keep their own physician, even if that physician is not in the Medi-Cal network, and that beneficiaries have the power to opt out of the demonstration project, if they want.
“There is no need to assign a new doctor to people,” Ogle said. “There just is no need to do that.”
Experts: Medicaid Expansion Will Stand; Mandate’s Fate Unclear
Legal and health policy experts were divided in their predictions about how specific challenges to the Affordable Care Act may play out in the Supreme Court, but all agreed that substantive changes to the law could have profound effects in California.
Changes Intended to Smooth MRMIP Operation
Assembly member Bill Monning (D-Carmel) is chair of the Assembly Committee on Health, but at yesterday’s meeting he went to the other side of the dais to present a piece of new legislation.
Monning’s AB 1526 would eliminate the annual and lifetime limits on coverage in the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, popularly known as MRMIP.
“This bill is related to two goals I’ve had since I started in the Assembly. And number one is to make MRMIP more affordable for people who are in dire need of it,” Monning said. “And the other goal was, to actually meet Mister Mip.”
Does Obama Deserve Blame for Mandate’s Troubles?
Candidate Obama opposed health reform’s individual mandate; President Obama signed the mandate into law. Why did the president shift his thinking — and will the decision haunt his signature legislation?