BILL NUMBER: AB 505	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 4, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 17, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Nazarian

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to add Section 14029.91 to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to Medi-Cal.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 505, as amended, Nazarian. Medi-Cal: managed care: language
assistance services.
   Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under
which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services.
The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal
Medicaid Program provisions. Under existing law, one of the methods
by which Medi-Cal services are provided is pursuant to contracts with
various types of managed care plans.
   This bill would require the department to require all managed care
plans contracting with the department to provide Medi-Cal services
to provide language assistance services, which includes
interpretation and translation services, to
limited-English-proficient  enrollees   Medi-Cal
beneficiaries  , as defined.  The bill would require the
department to determine when a limited-English-proficient population
meets the requirement for translation services, as prescribed. 

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 14029.91 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:
   14029.91.  (a) The department shall require all managed care plans
contracting with the department to provide Medi-Cal services to
provide language assistance services to limited-English-proficient
(LEP)  enrollees   Medi-Cal beneficiaries who
are mandatorily enrolled in managed care  in the following
manner:
   (1) Interpretation services shall be provided in any language on a
24-hour basis at all points of service.
   (2) Translation services shall be provided to the language groups
identified by the department.
   (b) The department shall determine when an LEP population meets
the requirement for translation services using one of the following
numeric thresholds: 
   (1) Three thousand LEP persons eligible for Medi-Cal reside in the
plan's service area, or 1,000 LEP persons eligible for Medi-Cal
reside in a single ZIP Code.  
   (2) One thousand five hundred LEP persons eligible for Medi-Cal in
two contiguous ZIP Codes reside within a health plan's service area.
 
   (1) A population group of 3,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are
mandatorily enrolled in managed care, residing in the service area,
who indicate their primary language as other than English.  

   (2) A population group of Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are
mandatorily enrolled in managed care, residing in the service area,
who indicate their primary language as other than English, and that
meet a concentration standard of 1,000 beneficiaries in a single ZIP
Code or 1,500 beneficiaries in two contiguous ZIP Codes. 
   (c) The department shall make this determination  annually
and instruct   if any of the following occurs: 
  
   (1) A nonmanaged care county becomes a new managed care county.
 
   (2) A new population group becomes a mandatory Medi-Cal managed
care beneficiary population.  
   (3) A period of three years has passed since the last
determination. 
    (d)     The department shall instruct
managed care  plans, by means of incorporating the requirement
into plan contracts, all-plan letters, or similar instructions, 
of  the language groups that meet the numeric thresholds.

   (d) 
    (e)  For purposes of this section, a person is 
"limited English proficient"  
"limited-English-proficient"  if he or she speaks English less
than very well.