Bill Text: CA SB335 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Medi-Cal: hospitals: quality assurance fee.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 286, Statutes of 2011. [SB335 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB335-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 335	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Hernandez and Steinberg

                        FEBRUARY 15, 2011

   An act relating to Medi-Cal, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 335, as introduced, Hernandez. Medi-Cal: hospitals: quality
assurance fee.
   Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the
State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health
care services are provided to qualified low-income individuals. The
Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid
Program provisions. Existing law, subject to federal approval,
imposes a quality assurance fee, as specified, on certain general
acute care hospitals through and including December 31, 2010.
Existing law creates the Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund in
the State Treasury and requires that the money collected from the
quality assurance fee be deposited into the fund. Existing law,
subject to federal approval, requires the department to make
supplemental payments for certain services, as specified, to private
hospitals, nondesignated public hospitals, and designated public
hospitals, as defined, for subject fiscal years, as defined. Existing
law provides that the moneys in the Hospital Quality Assurance
Revenue Fund shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be
available only for certain purposes, including making these
supplemental payments to hospitals.
   This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature
to consider legislation that would impose a quality assurance fee to
be paid by hospitals, for the period of July 1, 2011, through June
30, 2012, which would be used to increase federal financial
participation in order to make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to
hospitals and pay for health care coverage for children, as
specified. This bill would provide that it is the intent of the
Legislature that the quality assurance fee be implemented only if
specified conditions are met.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (a) The Legislature continues to recognize the essential role that
hospitals play in serving the state's Medi-Cal beneficiaries. To
that end, it has been, and remains, the intent of the Legislature to
preserve funding for hospitals and to obtain all available federal
funds to make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that funding provided to
hospitals through a hospital quality assurance fee be explored with
the goal of increasing access to care and stabilizing hospital rates
through supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals.
  SEC. 2.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to consider
legislation that would impose a quality assurance fee to be paid by
hospitals, which would be used to increase federal financial
participation in order to do both of the following:
   (1) Make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals for the
period of July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012.
   (2) Pay for health care coverage for children in the amount of
forty million dollars ($40,000,000) for each quarter in which
supplemental Medi-Cal payments are made to hospitals.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to consider legislation
that would require the State Department of Health Care Services to
obtain the necessary federal approvals to implement the quality
assurance fee described in subdivision (a) in order to make
supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals for the period of July 1,
2011, through June 30, 2012.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature to consider legislation
that would require the quality assurance fee be implemented only if
all of the following conditions are met:
   (1) The quality assurance fee is established in consultation with
the hospital community.
   (2) The quality assurance fee, including any interest earned after
collection by the department, is deposited in a segregated fund
apart from the General Fund and used exclusively for supplemental
Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and for the direct costs of
administering the program by the State Department of Health Care
Services.
   (3) No hospital shall be required to pay the quality assurance fee
to the department unless and until the state receives and maintains
federal approval of the quality assurance fee and related
supplemental payments to hospitals.
   (4) The full amount of the quality assurance fee assessed and
collected remains available only for the purposes specified by the
Legislature.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to make the necessary statutory changes to increase
Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and improve access at the earliest
possible time, so as to allow this act to be operative as soon as
approval from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
is obtained by the State Department of Health Care Services, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.