BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 547 (Liu) - Aging and long-term care services, supports, and
program coordination
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|Version: January 4, 2016 |Policy Vote: Health 6-0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: January 19, 2016 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 547 would create a Statewide Aging and Long-Term
Care Services and Coordinating Council and would require the
Council to develop and implement a plan to meet the needs of the
state's elderly population. The bill would require the
California Health and Human Services Agency to assume
responsibility for the continued operation of the CalCareNet.org
website.
Fiscal
Impact:
Likely ongoing costs of about $300,000 per year for the Health
and Human Services Agency to coordinate state policy and
support the new Council (General Fund). In order to coordinate
programs and activities between various state agencies and
provide ongoing staff support to the newly created Council,
the Health and Human Services Agency is likely to need
additional staff positions.
Likely one-time costs of about $600,000 and ongoing costs of
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about $125,000 per year to develop the required strategic plan
(General Fund). Given the breadth of issues facing an aging
population and the complexity of the current system for
providing services to senior citizens, it is likely that the
Agency will need to dedicate a significant amount of staff
time to performing the necessary research, facilitating the
Council's deliberations, and drafting the required strategic
plan. In addition, the bill requires annual reporting on the
status of the plan.
Unknown costs to implement the strategic plan (General Fund
and other unknown fund sources). The bill requires the
Secretary of Health and Human Services to lead the development
and implementation of the strategic plan. The costs to
actually implement the plan are unknown. Given the size of the
aging population in the state and the high costs to provide
long-term services and supports to this population, additional
state costs to implement the plan could be very large.
One-time costs between $500,000 and $1 million to develop the
website standards, compile information about existing services
and programs, and develop the website (General Fund).
Likely ongoing costs up to $150,000 per year for ongoing
review of information for accuracy and completeness (General
Fund).
Background: Under current law and practice, the state operates numerous
programs that relate to the elderly population of the state.
Those programs are housed in a variety of state agencies. For
example, the state provides health care services through the
Medi-Cal program to low income senior citizens, the Departments
of Public Health licenses and regulates health care facilities
the provide services to the elderly, and the Department of Aging
manages programs that target senior citizens.
Under current law, the Health and Human Services Agency is
required to develop a website, CalCareNet, to provide
information to consumers about a variety of services for the
elderly relating to long-term care services and programs. An
initial version of that website was created in 2001, but was
subsequently shut down.
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Currently, the California Health Care Foundation manages the
CalQualityCare.org website. This website provides information to
consumers on facilities and services available from doctors,
hospitals, and long-term support service providers. The
California Health Care Foundation has indicated that it does not
wish to provide long-term financial support to maintain this
public resource.
Proposed Law:
SB 547 would create a Statewide Aging and Long-Term Care
Services and Coordinating Council and would require the Council
to develop and implement a plan to meet the needs of the state's
elderly population. The bill would require the California Health
and Human Services Agency to assume responsibility for the
continued operation of the CalCareNet.org website.
Specific provisions of the bill would:
Require the Secretary of Human Services to be responsible for
coordinating state programs relating to the elderly
population;
Create a Statewide Aging and Long-Term Care Services and
Coordinating Council;
Require the new Council to develop and implement a strategic
plan for meeting the needs of the state's aging population in
2020, 2025, and 2030;
Specify the issues to be addressed in the strategic plan;
Require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to contract
with the University of California to operate the
CalQualityCare.org website, in order to continue to provide
information to consumers;
Specify the kinds of information that must be included on
CalQualityCare.org.
Related
Legislation: SB 571 (Liu) would have required the Health and
Human Services Agency to create a new CalCareNet website to
provide information to consumers about federal, state, and
nongovernmental services for the elderly, including long-term
care services. That bill was held on this committee's Suspense
File.
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