BILL NUMBER: AB 1396	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bonta
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Pan)

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act relating to Medi-Cal.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1396, as introduced, Bonta. Medi-Cal.
   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 federal law requires, among
other things, that a state plan for medical assistance provide
methods and procedures relating to the utilization of, and the
payment for, care and services available under the plan as may be
necessary to assure that payments are consistent with efficiency,
economy, and quality of care and are sufficient to enlist enough
providers so that care and services are available under the plan at
least to the extent that care and services are available to the
general population in the geographic area.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to align state law with federal law, as specified above,
and to require an independent, third party to establish standardized
metrics on access to care and quality of care, and to assess services
using those metrics.
   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.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would align state law with federal law, specifically
to assure that Medi-Cal "payments are consistent with efficiency,
economy, and quality of care and are sufficient to enlist enough
providers so that care and services are available under the plan at
least to the extent that such care and services are available to the
general population in the geographic area" (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1369a(a)
(30)(A)), that would require an independent, third party to establish
standardized metrics on access to care and quality of care, and that
would require that same entity to annually assess, using the
standardized metrics, services provided to Medi-Cal beneficiaries,
and report those findings annually to the Legislature.