BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 215
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 215 (Beall)
As Amended April 25, 2011
Majority vote
HEALTH 13-6 APPROPRIATIONS 12-4
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|Ayes:|Monning, Ammiano, Atkins, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Bonilla, Eng, Gordon, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Hayashi, | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| |Roger Hernández, Bonnie | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| |Lowenthal, Mitchell, Pan, | |Mitchell, Solorio |
| |V. Manuel Pérez, Williams | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Logue, Garrick, Mansoor, |Nays:|Harkey, Nielsen, Norby, |
| |Nestande, Silva, Smyth | |Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires each county to submit a report regarding the
Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act (EMATA), as specified,
to the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and to the
relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, no
later than March 1 of each year. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires each county to submit a report to DHCS.
2)Requires the report to include:
a) The total number of penalty assessments imposed pursuant
to the EMATA;
b) The total amount of funds collected from the $4 penalty
assessment; and,
c) The total amount deposited by the county in the EMATA
Fund, including the total amount withheld by the county for
administrative expenses.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes Medi-Cal, administered by DHCS, to provide
comprehensive health care services and long-term care to
AB 215
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pregnant women, children, and people who are aged, blind, and
disabled.
2)Establishes the EMATA requiring a $4 fee to be assessed on
every vehicle code violation to be collected by each county
and transferred to DHCS for deposit in the EMATA Fund to be
used in the Medi-Cal Program to obtain federal funds and to
fund supplemental payments for emergency medical air
transportation services.
3)Establishes an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Penalty
Assessment of $2 for every $10 on every fine, penalty,
forfeiture, or criminal offense and all offenses dealing with
the Vehicle Code except parking offenses for local Maddy EMS
Funds.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor non-reimbursable costs to counties to provide
the state with data related to the number of penalties imposed
and total number of funds raised.
COMMENTS : AB 2173 (Beall), Chapter 547, Statutes of 2010, was
enacted to provide a mechanism for supplemental payments for air
ambulance providers who serve Medi-Cal patients. The revenue
generated by imposing a flat $4 fee on each motor vehicle
violation is to be matched with federal funds through the
Medi-Cal Program. According to the author, this bill is
necessary to enable DHCS to estimate and project revenues to the
EMATA Fund. The author states that although AB 2173 (Beall)
established the protocol for the administration of the Fund, it
does not require sufficient data reporting to enable DHCS to
estimate and project revenues to the Fund. The author reports
that currently, DHCS does not have enough traffic data to
estimate and forecast the revenue anticipated from this program.
The author argues that the data provided in this bill would
give DHCS better data to estimate revenues and create a payment
methodology system. The author also states that while this data
source may be determined adequate to address the short-term
issue, long-term budgeting will be required. According to the
author, this bill will assist with understanding the dynamics of
the revenue stream, number of violations charged versus number
of violations paid for example, will ease future budgeting
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issues and help with estimations.
Air ambulance services provide emergency transportation for the
most critical patients from automobile scenes directly to trauma
centers. Emergency helicopters also transport patients from
rural areas or acute care hospitals to tertiary care hospitals
such as trauma centers, heart/stroke centers, burn units, and
children's specialty hospitals. They are also used for disaster
response. Air ambulance services providers are a mix of public
and private entities. For instance, the City of Los Angeles
provides its own services, whereas the California Shock Trauma
Air Rescue is a not-for profit community based provider that
provides services throughout Central and Northern California.
The services are not self-dispatched, but are called for by on
scene first responders, a hospital physician, or other emergency
medical services agency. As with other emergency responders, no
one is denied service, regardless of ability to pay.
Analysis Prepared by : Marjorie Swartz / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097
FN: 0000603