BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1489
Page 1
( Without Reference to File )
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1489 (Budget Committee)
As Amended August 31, 2012
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(March 22, |SENATE: |30-1 |(August 31, |
| | |2012) | | |2012) |
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(vote not relevant)
Original Committee Reference: BUDGET
SUMMARY : Contains necessary statutory changes to achieve
savings assumed in the 2012 Budget Act related to the Department
of Health Care Services and the Department of Public Health.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill,
and instead:
1)Extend the sunset on the skilled nursing facilities quality
assurance fee for two years, from July 31, 2013, to July 31,
2015, and makes various other changes to nursing facilities,
to achieve $87.8 million in General Fund (GF) savings in
2012-13, including:
a) Require that, for the 2012-13 rate year, savings from
capping the professional liability insurance cost category
shall remain in the GF and shall not be transferred to the
Skilled Nursing Facility Quality and Accountability Special
Fund.
b) Delay by one year the implementation of a 1% set aside
of the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate to nursing homes for
quality and accountability supplemental payments, and
clarify that the 1% set aside shall be implemented if there
is a rate increase and that the set aside shall be 1% of
the rate increase. Require for the 2014-15 rate year, if a
rate increase is provided, there shall be a set aside of at
least one-third of the rate increase, up to a maximum of
1%, that shall be transferred into a special fund for
quality and accountability payments.
AB 1489
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c) Eliminate any facility-specific Medi-Cal rate increase
for nursing facilities in the 2012-13 rate year.
Establishes that in 2013-14 and 2014-15, the annual
increase in the weighted average Medi-Cal reimbursement
rate, for skilled nursing facilities, shall be 3% for each
rate year, plus the projected cost of complying with new
state or federal mandates. Allows for this increase to be
adjusted if the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services does not approve of exemption changes to the
facilities or of any proposed modification to the
methodology for calculation of the quality assurance fee.
d) Authorize the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
to convene a stakeholder group to discuss and analyze
alternative mechanisms to implement the quality and
accountability payments provided to nursing homes for
reimbursement. Requires the DHCS to submit a report to the
Legislature describing an alternative mechanism at least 90
days prior to any to any policy or budgetary changes, and
requires subsequent legislation to authorize such changes.
e) State findings and declarations of the Legislature
related to Section Q of the Minimum Data Set (federal
assessment) to ensure that all individuals have the
opportunity to learn about home and community-based
services and to receive long-term care services in the
least restrictive setting possible.
f) Require nursing facilities to either meet the residents'
discharge planning and referral needs, or make referrals to
a designated local contact agency (LCA). Requires LCAs to
either assist directly with transition services or make
referrals to organizations that assist with transition
services. State the Legislature's intent that nursing
facilities appropriately refer to LCAs nursing home
residents who express interest in the possibility of
receiving care and services in the community.
g) Require the DHCS, in collaboration with the Department
of Public Health, by April 1, 2013, to provide the
Legislature with an analysis of the appropriate sections of
the Minimum Data Set, nursing facilities' referrals made to
LCAs, and LCA responses and outcomes of those referrals.
h) Require the DHCS and Public Health to convene a
AB 1489
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stakeholder group to meet with regularly (at least
quarterly), to provide updates and receive input on the
planning, implementation, and progress of the nursing
facility quality improvement program.
2)Declare this bill take effect immediately as an urgency
statute.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill expressed the intent of the
Legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget
Act of 2012.
Analysis Prepared by : Andrea Margolis / BUDGET / (916)
319-2099
FN: 0005909