BILL NUMBER: AB 383	CHAPTERED  10/11/07

	CHAPTER  494
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 11, 2007
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 11, 2007
	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 6, 2007
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 4, 2007
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 5, 2007
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 19, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Tran

                        FEBRUARY 15, 2007

   An act to add Section 14132.23 to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to Medi-Cal.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 383, Tran. Medi-Cal: orthodontic services.
   Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and
under which qualified low-income persons receive health care
services. Existing law requires that emergency and essential
diagnostic and restorative dental services are covered benefits under
Medi-Cal, except as specified, subject to certain limitations.
   This bill would, commencing July 1, 2008, notwithstanding these
provisions, require that the active and retentive phases of
orthodontic treatment covered under Medi-Cal be reimbursed on a
quarterly basis pursuant to a specified formula, only until specified
standards are implemented by the department, at which time the bill
would exempt only covered retentive phase orthodontic services from
those provisions.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 14132.23 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:
   14132.23.   (a) (1) Except as set forth in paragraph (2), and
notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, the active
and retentive phases of orthodontic treatment covered under the
Medi-Cal program shall be reimbursed on a quarterly basis, as
determined by dividing the sum of the authorized treatment allowances
by the estimated number of three-month periods that the patient's
treatment will require, subject to the department's utilization
controls.
   (2) The retentive phase of orthodontic treatment shall be
reimbursed pursuant to paragraph (1) only until the department
implements the Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature, as
published by the American Dental Association in its Current Dental
Terminology manual, at which time paragraph (1) shall not apply to
retentive phase orthodontic services that are covered under the
Medi-Cal program.
   (b) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2008.