Latest California Healthline Stories
Medi-Cal Outreach Gets Big Boost
If the state won’t pay for it, one private donor will. The California Endowment yesterday committed $26.5 million to fund the state’s Medi-Cal expansion outreach under the Affordable Care Act.
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Human Services yesterday voted unanimously 3-0 to accept the contribution and directed state officials to apply for federal matching funds for a total of $53 million in outreach money.
“The success or failure of Obamacare will depend on how many will enroll,” said Daniel Zingale, senior vice president for the Endowment. “In this state, it’s enormously challenging. … We have more uninsured here than many other states have people.”
Committee Votes To Repeal Medi-Cal Cut
Assembly member Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) got a grand total of seven seconds to speak at Tuesday’s Assembly Committee on Health hearing before he was interrupted.
“AB 900 eliminates the 10% Medi-Cal reimbursement rate cuts for all Medi-Cal providers … ” Alejo started to say.
“Move the bill,” said committee member Roger Hernández (D-West Covina). And before Alejo could speak again: “Second!” said Assembly member V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella).
That set the tone at Tuesday’s hearing, which saw a unanimous, bipartisan approval of Alejo’s bill.
Managing Medi-Cal With Enrollment Up, Spending Down
We asked legislators, state officials and consumer advocates how California should manage Medi-Cal with enrollment going up by millions next year and reimbursements going down perhaps by as much as 10%.
Bill Aims To Reverse 10% Provider Rate Reduction
Assembly member Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) yesterday said he wants to undo the 10% Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rate cut passed by the Legislature in 2011. The across-the-board reductions were challenged in a lawsuit still pending in federal court and have not taken effect.
California lawmakers in 2011 faced a huge budget shortfall, and this particular cut was made to save the state an estimated $50 million a month, health officials say. Physicians and other providers of Medi-Cal services have been leery of this further reduction, when California already ranks near the bottom in the nation in Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Alejo said he will expand AB 900 — a bill originally designed to reverse rate reductions to one small group of providers — to include all providers affected by the 2011 cut. That includes physicians, pharmacists, hospitals and ambulance services, he said.
“We want to really take a step back and look at the 10% cut to all providers,” Alejo said. “Medi-Cal providers in California already have some of the lowest rates in the country. We are ranked 47th in the nation right now, even before that cut.”
Competition Spurs Northern Expansion in San Diego
Health care providers are expanding their reach in San Diego’s wealthier northern communities as declining reimbursements and changes to the delivery system under the Affordable Care Act alter the economic environment for health care.
Arkansas Medicaid Plan May Not Change Game After All
The state’s alternative plan for Medicaid expansion has received a great deal of attention. What did we ultimately learn?
Medi-Cal Cut Could Force Some Rural Hospitals To Close Nursing Units
Medi-Cal providers are anxiously waiting to see if federal courts uphold a 10% reimbursement cut. Some skilled nursing facilities face even deeper cuts that might be enough to put some rural hospitals out of business.
California’s School-Based Health Centers See Promise, Challenges in the Affordable Care Act
Claire Brindis of UC-San Francisco, Alex Briscoe of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, Serena Clayton of the California School Health Centers Association and Zena Harvill of the Native American Health Center spoke with California Healthline about how the Affordable Care Act is affecting school-based health centers in California.
Healthy Families Savings Goes from $13M to $137K
At a legislative hearing yesterday, state officials said the estimates for savings have been reduced for the Healthy Families transition to Medi-Cal managed care.
According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the original estimated general fund savings for the Healthy Families transition was $13.1 million in 2012-13. The estimate has shrunk to $137,000. Savings for next fiscal year — 2013-14 — were estimated at $52 million and that estimate has been revised to $43 million.
Scott Ogus, who represented the Department of Finance at yesterday’s hearing, said there were several factors contributing to the revision. Delays in implementation by the Department of Health Care Services led to caseload changes. DHCS officials have said the department slowed down some of the early phases of the transition so children would have less disruption in continuity of care.
Public Involvement in Managed Care Licensing?
Thirteen bills came before the Assembly Committee on Health yesterday and all 13 were approved, but not all them got a red-carpet reception.
One of the bills that stirred up opposition from health plans was a proposal by Assembly member Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) to open the managed care licensing process to public scrutiny and input.
“We know that millions more Californians will attain coverage under the Affordable Care Act, along with millions more in the impending Medi-Cal expansion, and [the effort] to move current enrollees in Healthy Families and other programs into Medi-Cal managed care,” Dickinson said, “making it an opportune time to apply for managed care licensure.”