Medi-Cal SPA/Increased Reimbursement Rates for Respiratory Equipment and Supplies
We are still awaiting implementation notice on these important increase for rates of reimbursement for fee for service Medi-Cal for respiratory equipment and supplies. Those changes include:
Increase the Medi-Cal Fee for services reimbursement rates on respiratory equipment and supplies from 80 to 100% of Medicare rural rates effective until the end of the Public Health Epidemic ( PHE), likely end of 2021. Those rates will also be retroactive to the start of the PHE, March 2020.
They will also eliminate the additional 10% cut on respiratory equipment and supplies
We have been told that the rate changes are imminent but have yet to see them announced. We know that doing an Electronic Payment Correction (EPC) to reprocess prior claims paid going back to March 1, 2020 will also not be done for months. We will alert you when the rates are changed.
CRT Reform Bill in Senate Committee
SB 717 (Dodd) would update the current Medi-Cal CRT standards and incorporate current definitions of services and the need for qualified professionals to perform those assessments. The bill was sponsored by NCART and is supported by CAMPS. SB 717 would also eliminate the current 10% provider rate cut that has existed since 2009 on CRT.
SB 717 passed the Senate Health Committee on a unanimous vote and now awaits action on the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense File. Any bill that has a cost exceeding a set amount is placed on hold via Suspense. SB 717 has an estimate cost of $1-2M. The Suspense file is taken up closer to state budget adoption and bills are prioritized in terms of what new state spending will be approved outside of the actual budget plan. We remain optimistic that the bill will come off the Suspense file and then move to the Assembly for consideration.
New Bill Mandates Additional Hazard Pay for Health Care Workers
AB 650 (Muratsuchi) would require a wide variety of health care providers, including DME/Medical supply providers, to provide hazard premium pay to their workers retroactive to 1/1/21. It would only apply to health care entities with 100 or more employees so it would not apply to all provider entities. Originally the bill required a $5 an hour premium payment but that was changed to a quarterly bonus payment of $2,500 that would start in 2022 and be applicable to workers who were employed during the pandemic 2020-2021. It is now labeled a employee retention bonus.
CAMPS has joined a coalition of provider entities to oppose AB 650. It would have a devastating effect on many providers who have already struggled with increased costs of providing equipment and services during the PHE. Provider reimbursement has not been increased to account for those costs and no one had assumed this new expense could be imposed. AB 650 passed the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee and is now awaiting consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The estimate of state costs might be very low since the bill exempts state or local government health care entities.
