AB 861, as amended, Maienschein. Mental health: community-based 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 benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for specified services, including various mental health services. Existing federal law, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, requires the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to, among other things, award, no later than January 1, 2016, planning grants to states for the purpose of developing proposals to participate in time-limited demonstration programs to improve mental health services provided by certified community behavioral health clinics to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
This bill would require the department to apply to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to be selected as a participating state in the time-limited demonstration program to receive enhanced federal matching funds for mental health services provided by certified community behavioral health clinics if the department applies for, and is awarded, a planning grant to develop its proposal to participate in the demonstration program. The bill would require the department to work with counties and other stakeholders in developing its proposal. The bill would also require the proposal tobegin delete include plans for countiesend deletebegin insert require that counties may not be selected to participate unless they include plansend insert
to redirect a portion of the funds currently used to match federal funds to providing increased housing opportunities for individuals with severe mental illnesses, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares the following:
2(a) In 2014 Congress enacted the Protecting Access to Medicare
3Act of 2014.
4(b) Under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, eight states
5will be selected to have their federal share of costs increased to 90
6percent for two years for outpatient behavioral health care for
7individuals with severe mental illnesses or serious emotional
8disturbances.
9(c) If successful, this federal opportunity would enable
10California to serve the tens of thousands of individuals with those
11conditions
that it now lacks the funding to serve.
12(d) A major challenge in serving that population is that many
13are homeless and in need of housing assistance. Federal funding
14cannot pay for that housing assistance.
15(e) This federal funding would free up nearly $2 billion in
16county funds now being used to match federal funds. The money
17that is currently being used to match federal funds will now be
18available to be used to meet the housing needs of those individuals
19who are not currently receiving the behavioral health care that they
20need.
Section 14021.2 is added to the Welfare and
22Institutions Code, to read:
(a) If the department applies to the United States
2Secretary of Health and Human Services
for, and is awarded, the
3planning grant awarded pursuant to Section 223 of the federal
4Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 for the purpose of
5developing proposals to participate in time-limited demonstration
6programs to improve mental health services furnished by certified
7community behavioral health clinics to Medi-Cal beneficiaries,
8the department shall submit an application for the subsequent
9competitive grant competition to be selected as a participating state
10in the demonstration program.
11(b) In planning to develop its proposal for the competitive grant,
12the department shall work with counties and other stakeholders to
13identify the unmet need for the covered services and to estimate
14the number of individuals who will need housing assistance.
15(c) The
competitive grant proposal shallbegin delete include plans for begin insert require that counties shall not be selected to participate
16countiesend delete
17unless they include plansend insert to redirect a portion of the funds that are
18currently used to match federal funds but will not be needed for
19that purpose during the grant period to provide increased housing
20opportunities for individuals with severe mental illnesses.
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