BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                             Senator Kevin Murray, Chair

                                           631 (Leno)
          
          Hearing Date:  1/19/06          Amended: 5/26/05
          Consultant: John Miller         Policy Vote: Health 10-5
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          BILL SUMMARY:   The bill requires the Department of Alcohol and  
          Drug Programs to provide for mobile narcotic treatment programs 

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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions               2006-07     2007-08    2008-09    Fund
            Drug Medi-Cal                      $100 *            $200*       
                                         $200*         GF & FF 

                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                      
          *Costs could be offset by savings in conventional treatment  
          centers.
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          STAFF COMMENTS:  SUSPENSE FILE

          This bill is intended to qualify mobile methadone treatment for  
          Medi-Cal reimbursement. The measure requires the State  
          Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs to establish a program  
          for the operation and regulation of mobile narcotic treatment  
          programs. The bill requires that a mobile treatment program  
          hold--or be affiliated with a holder of--a primary narcotic  
          treatment program license.

          The San Francisco Department of Public Health currently operates  
          a mobile methadone treatment program to bring substance abuse  
          treatment to primarily homeless individuals who do not access  
          treatment in traditional methadone clinics. Methadone treatments  
          provided eligible beneficiaries in clinics are reimbursable  
          while methadone provided from a mobile clinic is not.  The San  
          Francisco mobile lab estimates that 20 percent of its clientele  










          are Medi-Cal eligible.

          The sponsor and author note that methadone is a particularly  
          cost-effective treatment for heroin addiction and that increased  
          access to methadone will reduce heroin use and the costs of  
          related crime, disease and death.  If the mobile facilities were  
          to add less than 45 patients for a year, the program would  
          increase Drug Medi-Cal costs by over $200,000 annually, with the  
          costs evenly distributed between the state General Fund and  
          federal funds.  To the extent that the treatment provided by the  
          mobile facilities reduced treatment in other state programs, the  
          identified costs could be offset by savings in other programs.