Below is an update on a few critical health care bills. For a full list, review CMA's
Legislative Hot List.
SB 1215 (Hernandez): Healing arts licensees: referrals (CMA Position: OPPOSE) - which aimed to eliminate the in-office exception to the self-referral law for advanced imaging, anatomic pathology, radiation therapy, and physical therapy. This bill would have been a major blow to the integrated care model, resulting in increased costs as these services would have been driven toward the more expensive hospital setting and inhibit the development of practices that integrate and coordinate care. We have successfully managed to defeat this harmful bill in committee.
SB 1000 (Monning) the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Act (CMA Position: SPONSOR) - passed the Senate Floor after receiving 21 yes votes. Facing significant opposition from the beverage industry, it was a hard-won vote.
AB 1771 (V.M. Perez) Telehealth Reimbursement (CMA Position: SPONSOR) - was approved through a 76-1 vote. This bill seeks to require health insurance companies licensed in the State of California to pay contracted physicians for telephone patient management.
AB 2400 (Ridley-Thomas) Health care coverage: provider contracts (CMA Position: SPONSOR) - was approved through a 55-8 vote. If signed into law, this bill will prohibit contracts issued, amended or renewed after January 1, 2015, from including a provision that terminates a provider if he or she exercises the right to negotiate, accept or refuse a material change to the contract. It would also prohibit plans from requiring participation in unspecified current and future products or product networks, unless the plan discloses the reimbursement rate, method of payment and any other contract terms that are materially different from those of the underlying commercial agreement.
State Budget
Recently, the Assembly and Senate announced their respective budget plans in anticipation of serious negotiations with the Administration. While the next two weeks will be crucial to securing the priorities of California physicians, the initial offerings by both houses closely reflect the priorities of CMA:
- Medi-Cal Provider Rates: After years of advocacy and litigation, the Assembly and Senate are poised to restore cuts to Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rates that were enacted in 2011 and began being implemented earlier this year. Although details are still unclear, we believe the proposal from both houses is to begin the restoration of the cuts in April 2015.
- Primary Care Residency Funding: The Assembly is poised to increase funding for primary care residency programs by an additional $4 million over what the Governor proposed in January. In response to advocacy by CMA and the California Academy of Family Physicians, the Assembly will increase funding beyond the Governor's request and will require the increased funds to be used for expanding residency programs.
- EHR Technical Assistance for Medi-Cal Providers: The Senate proposal includes $3.75 million to provide a state match to draw down $37.5 million in federal funds related to EHR adoption and support for Medi-Cal providers. California has an opportunity to promote greater utilization of health information technology, particularly electronic health record (EHR) systems.