BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          AB 2053 (Gonzalez) - Primary care clinics
          
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          |Version: March 31, 2016         |Policy Vote: HEALTH 9 - 0       |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: Yes                    |
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          |Hearing Date: August 1, 2016    |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    |
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          This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense File.


          Bill  
          Summary:  AB 2053 would require the Department of Public Health  
          to issue a single, consolidated license to a primary care clinic  
          that includes more than one physical plant.


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  One-time costs of $110,000 to adopt regulations by the  
          Department of Public Health (Licensing and Certification Fund).


          Background:  Under current law, the Department of Public Health licenses  
          and regulates health facilities, including primary care clinics.  
          Generally, primary care clinics are licensed by location. A  
          clinic may have multiple locations and operate under as a single  
          administrative entity, but under current law each physical  
          location must be separately licensed. 


          Proposed Law:  







          AB 2053 (Gonzalez)                                     Page 1 of  
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            AB 2053 would require the Department of Public Health to issue  
          a consolidated license to a primary care clinic that includes  
          more than one physical plant.
          Specific provisions of the bill would:
                 Require the Department to issue a single, consolidated  
               license to a primary care clinic that operates more than  
               one physical plant, upon written notification that the  
               primary care clinic meets the criteria for licensure;
                 Permit a primary care clinic that is issued a  
               consolidated license to use a single National Provider  
               Identification number for all the licensed physical plants  
               or individual National Provider Identification numbers for  
               each physical plant;
                 Specify the criteria for a clinic to qualify for a  
               consolidated license;
                 Exempt a primary care clinic that adds an additional  
               physical plant from the requirement to seek licensure for  
               the additional physical plant, but requires notification to  
               the Department.


          Staff  
          Comments:  Under current law, certain primary care clinics that  
          provide services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries are reimbursed using  
          the prospective payment system (PPS) which is a cost-based  
          system for calculating reimbursement rates. Under current law,  
          PPS rates are site specific. Therefore, whether a clinic seeks  
          to consolidate more than one clinic under a consolidated license  
          will not impact the rates that the Medi-Cal program pays for  
          services.
          The only costs that may be incurred by a local agency relate to  
          crimes and infractions. Under the California Constitution, such  
          costs are not reimbursable by the state.




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