Bill Text: CA AB340 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 340 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Program: trauma screening.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-10-12 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 700, Statutes of 2017. [AB340 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB340-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate September 07, 2017

Amended IN Senate September 01, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 340

Introduced by Assembly Member Arambula
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bonta)

February 07, 2017

An act to add Section 14132.19 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to Medi-Cal.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 340, as amended, Arambula. Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Program: trauma screening.

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, including early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment (EPSDT) for any individual under 21 years of age who is covered under Medi-Cal consistent with the requirements under federal law. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions.

Existing federal law provides that EPSDT services include periodic screening services, vision services, dental services, hearing services, and other necessary services to correct or ameliorate defects and physical and mental illnesses and conditions discovered by the screening services, whether or not the services are covered under the state plan. In addition to the required periodic screening services, existing federal law provides that Medicaid-eligible children are entitled to interperiodic screenings in order to identify a suspected illness or condition not present or discovered during the periodic examination.

~~The~~

This bill would require the department, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services and others, to convene, by ~~September 15,~~ May 1, 2018, an advisory working group to update, amend, or develop, if appropriate, tools and protocols for screening children for trauma as defined, within the EPSDT benefit, as specified. The bill would require this group to report its findings and recommendations, as well as any appropriations necessary to implement those recommendations, to the department and to the Legislature’s budget subcommittees on health and human services no later than May 1, 2019, and would provide that this group would be disbanded on December 31, 2019. The bill would also require, on or before May 1, 2019, the department to identify an existing advisory working group to periodically review and consider the protocols for the screening of trauma in children at least once every 5 years, or upon the request of the department. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions by means of all-county letters, plan letters, or plan or provider bulletins, as specified.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 14132.19 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

14132.19.

(a) (1) The department, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, county mental health experts, managed care plan experts, behavioral health experts, child welfare experts, and stakeholders, shall convene an advisory working group to update, amend, or develop, if appropriate, tools and protocols for the screening of children for trauma, within the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit, consistent with existing law and this section. The advisory working group shall consider both of the following:

(A) Existing screening tools used in the Medi-Cal program, including, but not limited to, the Staying Healthy Assessment developed by the department, the United States Preventive Services Task Force grade “A” or “B” ~~recommendations~~ recommendations, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures periodicity schedule and anticipatory guidance.

(B) The efficacy and appropriateness of the types of providers authorized to administer screenings.

(2) The department shall convene the advisory working group by ~~September 15,~~ May 1, 2018. The advisory working group shall report its findings and recommendations, as well as any appropriations necessary to implement those recommendations, to the department and to the Legislature’s budget subcommittees on health and human services no later than May 1, 2019. The advisory working group shall be disbanded on December 31, 2019.

(3) Findings or recommendations of the advisory working group that cannot be implemented without a subsequent appropriation by the Legislature, as determined by the department, shall not be implemented until the appropriation is made.

(4) On or before May 1, 2019, the department shall identify an existing advisory working group to periodically review and consider the protocols for the screening of trauma in children consistent with subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1). The group created pursuant to this section may, as part of its work, recommend to the department an existing group appropriate to conduct this review. The advisory working group identified by department shall review and consider the protocols for the screening of trauma in children at least once every five years, or upon the request of the department.

(b) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this section by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action.

(c) This section shall be implemented only if and to the extent that federal financial participation under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.) is not jeopardized and all necessary federal approvals have been obtained.

(d) “Trauma,” as used in this section, means the result of an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.