BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 2179 (Gipson) - Hepatitis C testing
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|Version: June 22, 2016 |Policy Vote: B., P. & E.D. 9 - |
| | 0, HEALTH 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 11, 2016 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM - SUSPENSE FILE ***********
The following information is revised to reflect amendments
adopted by the committee on August 11, 2016
Bill
Summary: AB 2179 would authorize a hepatitis C counselor who
meets specific requirements to perform certain hepatitis C
tests.
Fiscal
Impact:
One-time costs of about $150,000 for the development and
adoption of regulations by the Department of Health Care
Services (General Fund).
Minor ongoing costs to train hepatitis C counselors and
AB 2179 (Gipson) Page 1 of
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provide technical assistance to local health jurisdictions
(General Fund).
Unknown additional costs to the Medi-Cal program to provide
treatment for newly diagnosed hepatitis C cases (General Fund
and federal funds). By making it easier for hepatitis C
counselors working in certain situations to perform hepatitis
C tests, the bill is likely to result in additional testing
and additional diagnoses of hepatitis C. For those individuals
who are eligible for Medi-Cal, there would likely be increased
costs to provide treatment for newly diagnosed hepatitis C
cases. The costs to provide such treatment are unknown and
would depend on the number of new diagnoses amongst the
Medi-Cal population. New hepatitis C drugs on the market have
very high upfront costs (in the tens of thousands per course
of treatment), but are very effective at curing hepatitis C.
In the long-run, early diagnosis and treatment for some
patients, may actually save money. However, a very low
percentage of hepatitis C patients will ever receive a costly
liver transplant. Therefore, it is not known whether
widespread use of these very expensive drugs will actually
save money for the Medi-Cal program in the long-run.
Author
Amendments: Simplify the requirements for hepatitis C
counselors.
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