AB 2589, as amended, Gomez. Public health: lactation services and equipment.
Existing law provides for the California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program) administered by the State Department of Public Health and counties, under which nutrition and other assistance is provided to eligible low-income postpartum and lactating women, infants, and children under 5 years of age.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services, including breastfeeding services, are provided to qualified low-income persons. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to streamline and simplify existing Medi-Cal program procedures in order to improve access to lactation supports and breast pumps among Medi-Cal recipients.
This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to coordinate with the State Department of Health Care Services and Covered California to develop processes, procedures, and an electronic interface for eligibility-related information sharing to streamline enrollment into the WIC Program as part of the application process for Medi-Cal and health plans offered through the California Health Benefit Exchange. The bill would require the interface of the California Healthcare Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention System (CalHEERS)begin insert and the Statewide Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS)end insert to identify individuals who may be eligible for the WIC Program and, by certain dates, provide electronic access to program applications in a certain format, as specified. The bill would also require the State Department of Public Health to coordinate with the State Department of Health Care Services, through a stakeholder engagement process, as specified, to develop measures and outcomes for breastfeeding rates, as specified. The bill would require the recommendations from the stakeholder engagement process to be posted on the departments’ Internet Web sites by January 1, 2018.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 123362 is added to the Health and Safety
2Code, to read:
(a) The State Department of Public Health shall
4coordinate with the State Department of Health Care Services and
5Covered California to develop processes, procedures, and an
6electronic interface for eligibility-related information sharing to
7streamline enrollment into the California Special Supplemental
8Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as
9the WIC Program, as part of the application process for Medi-Cal
10and health plans offered through the California Health Benefit
11Exchange established under Title 22 (commencing with Section
12100500) of the Government Code.
13(b) On or before January 1, 2019, the California Healthcare
14Eligibility, Enrollment, and
Retention System (CalHEERS)
15developed under Section 15926 of the Welfare and Institutions
P3 1Codebegin insert and the Statewide Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS)
2developed under Section 10823 of the Welfare and Institutions
3Code, as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 846 of the Statutes of
42014,end insert shall identify individuals who are potentially eligible for the
5WIC Program and, if a potentially eligible individual wishes to
6apply for the WIC Program, electronically link them to a WIC
7Program application.
8(c) On or before January 1, 2022, the California Healthcare
9Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention System (CalHEERS)
10developed under Section 15926 of the Welfare and Institutions
11Codebegin insert and the Statewide
Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS)
12developed under Section 10823 of the Welfare and Institutions
13Code, as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 846 of the Statutes of
142014,end insert shall identify individuals who are potentially eligible for the
15WIC Program and, if a potentially eligible individual wishes to
16apply for the WIC Program and provides consent to share
17confidential data with the WIC Program, provide a simple interface
18for the individual to electronically complete a WIC Program
19application without resubmitting data already known to the
20CalHEERSbegin delete system.end deletebegin insert
and SAWS systems.end insert
Section 123363 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
22to read:
(a) The State Department of Public Health shall
24coordinate with the State Department of Health Care Services,
25through a stakeholder engagement process that shall include, but
26not be limited to, representatives from health care providers,
27primary care clinics, and health plans, state and local staff from
28the California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
29Infants, and Children (WIC Program) and the Maternal, Child and
30Adolescent Health program, and representatives from organizations
31representing women, infants, and children, to, beginning prenatally
32and continuing through the postpartum period and at least until
33the infant reaches one year of age, develop measures and outcomes
34for breastfeeding rates that do both
of the following:
35(1) Include, at a minimum, women’s intention to breastfeed,
36breastfeeding initiation rates, and exclusivity and duration.
37(2) Identify ethnic disparities and sociodemographic differences.
P4 1(b) The stakeholder process shall take no longer than six months
2and the recommendations shall be posted on the departments’
3Internet Web sites by January 1, 2018.
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