BILL NUMBER: SB 239	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Hernandez and Steinberg

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2013

   An act relating to Medi-Cal.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 239, as introduced, Hernandez. Medi-Cal: hospital quality
assurance fee.
   Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, 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. Existing law, subject to federal
approval, imposes a quality assurance fee, as specified, on certain
general acute care hospitals from July 1, 2011, through December 31,
2013. Existing law, subject to federal approval, requires the fee to
be deposited into the Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund, and
requires that the moneys in the fund be used, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, only for certain purposes, including, among other
things, paying for health care coverage for children and making
supplemental payments for certain services to private hospitals,
increased capitation payments to Medi-Cal managed care plans, and
increased payments to mental health plans.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to impose a
quality assurance fee to be paid by hospitals, which would be used to
increase federal financial participation in order to make
supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals for the period of January
1, 2014, through December 31, 2015, and to help pay for health care
coverage for low-income children. This bill would require the
department to make every effort to obtain the necessary federal
approvals to implement the quality assurance fee as described.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (a) The Legislature continues to recognize the essential role that
hospitals play in serving the state's Medi-Cal beneficiaries. To
that end, it has been, and remains, the intent of the Legislature to
improve funding for hospitals and obtain all available federal funds
to make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that funding provided to
hospitals through a hospital quality assurance fee be explored with
the goal of increasing access to care and improving hospital
reimbursement through supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals.
  SEC. 2.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to impose a
quality assurance fee to be paid by hospitals, which would be used to
increase federal financial participation in order to make
supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals for the period of January
1, 2014, through December 31, 2015, and to help pay for health care
coverage for low-income children.
   (b) The State Department of Health Care Services shall make every
effort to obtain the necessary federal approvals to implement the
quality assurance fee described in subdivision (a) in order to make
supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals for the period of January
1, 2014, through December 31, 2015.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the quality assurance
fee be implemented only if all of the following conditions are met:
   (1) The quality assurance fee is established in consultation with
the hospital community.
   (2) The quality assurance fee, including any interest earned after
collection by the department, is deposited into segregated funds
apart from the General Fund and used exclusively for supplemental
Medi-Cal payments to hospitals, health care coverage for low-income
children, and for the direct costs of administering the program by
the department.
   (3) No hospital shall be required to pay the quality assurance fee
to the department unless and until the state receives and maintains
federal approval of the quality assurance fee and related
supplemental payments to hospitals.
   (4) The full amount of the quality assurance fee assessed and
collected remains available only for the purposes specified by the
Legislature in this act.