BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 39| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 39 Author: Skinner (D), et al. Amended: 8/20/14 in Senate Vote: 27 - Urgency PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT SUBJECT : Medi-Cal: designated public hospitals SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill designates Doctors San Pablo as a Designated Public Hospital (DPH), thereby allowing the hospital to access federal Medicaid funds under the states Section 1115 Bridge to Reform Medicaid waiver for which they have not received federal approval. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/20/14 delete the prior version of this bill relating to energy conservation and instead add the current language. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. CONTINUED AB 39 Page 2 2.Establishes the Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration Project Act (Act), which revises hospital supplemental payment methodologies under the Medi-Cal program in order to maximize the use of federal funds consistent with federal Medicaid law and to stabilize the distribution of funding for hospitals that provide care to Medi-Cal beneficiaries and uninsured patients. 3.Requires DHCS to seek a successor demonstration project or federal waiver of Medicaid law to implement specified objectives, which may include better care coordination for seniors, persons with disabilities, and children with special health care needs. Provides that to the extent the provisions under the Act do not conflict with the provisions of, or the Special Terms and Conditions of, this demonstration project, the provisions of the Act apply. 4.Defines DPHs and requires DPHs to be eligible for specified payments under the demonstration project. This bill: 1.Defines Doctors San Pablo as a DPH, thereby changing how the hospital is reimbursed by Medi-Cal. Defining Doctors San Pablo as a DPH makes the hospital eligible for cost-based reimbursement in fee-for-service Medi-Cal for inpatient services, but shifts the funding source used to draw down the federal match for these services and disproportionate share (DSH) payments from the state General Fund to local funds (Doctors San Pablo is not a DSH hospital now). Clarifies that defining Doctors San Pablo as a DPH enables it to access federal funds from the Safety Net Care Pool and the Delivery System Reform Incentive Pool (non-designated public hospitals (NDPH) [Doctors Medical Center is an NDPH] are eligible under state law for these funds but federal approval has not been granted for NDPH to receive these funds). 2.Appropriates $3 million from the General Fund to the West Contra Costa Healthcare District for support of the Doctors Medical Center. 3.Makes legislative findings and declarations that a special law is necessary because of the unique circumstances regarding AB 39 Page 3 financing of the West Contra Costa Healthcare District. 4.Takes effect immediately as an urgency statute. States the facts constituting the necessity for an urgency statue is in order to prevent the imminent closure of a critical component of the West Contra Costa County safety net by providing funding comparable to other safety net hospitals. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No JL:k 8/21/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED **** END ****