Bill Text: CA SB1374 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

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

---

Bill Title: Medi-Cal: ground ambulance rates.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-23 - Held in committee and under submission. [SB1374 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB1374-Introduced.html

---

BILL NUMBER: SB 1374	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hernandez

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to relating to Medi-Cal.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1374, as introduced, Hernandez. Medi-Cal: ambulance 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.
Existing law prohibits a city or county from establishing equipment
and personnel standards for the furnishing of nonemergency medical
transportation services for eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries that are
in conflict with equipment and personnel standards for reimbursement
established by the department.
   This bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature
relative to ambulance services. The bill would express the intent of
the Legislature to enact legislation to ensure the continued
viability of emergency medical systems throughout the state by
establishing payment definitions and policies for the Medi-Cal
program, as related to ambulance services that meet nationally
recognized standards. The bill would also express the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation to establish Medi-Cal reimbursement
rates for essential emergency and nonemergency ambulance services
that will cover, at a minimum, the actual costs of providing those
services, and to enact legislation to ensure the provision of
essential medically necessary emergency and nonemergency ambulance
response and transportation services to the citizens of California.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (1) Ambulance services play a vital role in providing quality
health care and are a critical component of the public safety first
response in times of natural or man-made disasters.
   (2) With the passage of the Emergency Medical Services System and
the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act in 1980, the
intent of the Legislature has been to maintain and promote the
development of emergency medical technician paramedic programs where
appropriate throughout the state, and to initiate EMT II limited
advanced life support programs only where geography, population
density, and resources would not make the establishment of a
paramedic program feasible.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
ensure the continued viability of emergency medical systems
throughout the state by establishing payment definitions and policies
for the Medi-Cal program, as related to ambulance services that meet
nationally recognized standards.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
establish Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for essential emergency and
nonemergency ambulance services that will cover, at a minimum, the
actual costs of providing those services.
   (d) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
ensure the provision of essential medically necessary emergency and
nonemergency ambulance response and transportation services to the
citizens of California.