BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 667
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 667 (Mitchell)
As Amended June 9, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |70-0 |(May 12, 2011) |SENATE: |37-0 |(July 14, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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Original Committee Reference: HEALTH
SUMMARY : Defines "pediatric subacute services" in the Medi-Cal
Program as the health care services needed by a person under 21
years of age who uses medical technology that compensates for
the loss of vital bodily functions, establishes medical
necessity standards and deletes the requirement that subacute
care be defined by the Department of Health Care Services based
on a study established in 1980 and makes other technical and
clarifying changes.
The Senate amendments are technical and clarifying.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was similar to the version
passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, potential state cost savings of up to $9 million
($4.5 million General Fund) to the extent additional children
are transferred from an acute level of care to a subacute level
of care.
The Senate Appropriations Committee found no significant costs
pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill is needed to
update the criteria used to evaluate and authorize admission
into Medi-Cal pediatric subacute facilities. The author asserts
that children whose needs could be adequately provided for in a
pediatric subacute facility are often not transferred to this
setting because they do not meet the criteria specified in
regulations. The children therefore remain in an acute care
hospital at a substantially higher cost to Medi-Cal. According
to the author, California has 10 pediatric subacute care
hospitals providing cost-effective health care services to
AB 667
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approximately 400 children under the age of 21 who require
medical technology due to loss of vital bodily function. The
author further states that all pediatric subacute patients need
24-hour nursing and special services such as: inhalation
therapy; tracheostomy care; intravenous feeding tubes; and,
complex wound care.
AB 36 (Quakenbush), Chapter 1030, Statutes of 1993, authorized
the Department of Health Services (now the Department of Health
Care Services) to establish cost-based reimbursement for the
provision of Medi-Cal benefits to any technology dependent child
who is placed at a lower cost facility, established the services
required to be provided at the facility and authorized adoption
of the regulations that this bill seeks to codify. AB 36
conditioned implementation on federal approval and full federal
financial approval through the Medi-Cal Program. AB 36 also
included a January 1, 1996, repeal date or alternatively, was
repealed by its own terms after the establishment of a pediatric
service continuum, whichever was earlier.
Analysis Prepared by : Marjorie Swartz / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097
FN: 0001712