Bill Text: CA AB1943 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Medi-Cal: telehealth.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-17 - In committee: Referred to suspense file. [AB1943 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1943-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
June 06, 2024 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 04, 2024 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1943
| Introduced by Assembly Member Weber |
January 29, 2024 |
An act to add Section 14132.726 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to telehealth.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1943, as amended, Weber.
Medi-Cal: telehealth.
Existing law establishes 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, in-person, face-to-face contact is not required under the Medi-Cal program when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities, when those services and settings meet certain criteria.
This bill would require the department to
to, by October 1, 2025, produce a public report on telehealth in the Medi-Cal program that includes analyses of, among other things, (1) telehealth access and utilization, (2) the effect of telehealth on timeliness of, access to, and quality of care, and (3) the effect of telehealth on clinical outcomes, as specified. The bill would authorize the department, in collaboration with the California Health and Human Services Agency, to issue policy recommendations based on the report’s findings.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
It is the intent of the Legislature to advance the use of telehealth and increase access to health care by establishing state policy that optimizes the use of telehealth to augment and enhance health and medical care for all California residents, especially those residents who are medically underserved, in order to improve individual patient outcomes and overall population health.SEC. 2.
Section 14132.726 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:14132.726.
(a)(1) Telehealth access and utilization.
(2) The effect of telehealth on timeliness of, access to, and quality of care, including specialty care, for Medi-Cal enrollees, including among target
populations of Medi-Cal enrollees identified within the department’s Comprehensive Quality Strategy (CQS).
(3) The effect of telehealth on clinical outcomes at an individual and population level. levels.
(4) The effect of telehealth on preventive care Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) quality measures reported by Medi-Cal managed care plans.
(b) (1) Wherever possible based on the availability of data, the analyses described in
subdivision (a) shall be stratified by geographic, demographic, and social determinants of health categories to identify disparities.
(2) Social determinants of health categories may be approximated using existing data sources, including the Healthy Places Index or similar indices.
(c) The department, in collaboration with the California Health and Human Services Agency, may issue policy recommendations based on the report’s findings.
