AB 236 (Holden, D-Pasadena)
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Passed the Assembly on Jan. 30. Pending a Senate policy committee referral.
AB 236 would require a health plan or insurer to annually audit and delete inaccurate listings from its provider directories, including deleting a provider from its directory if the plan or insurer has not financially compensated a provider in the prior year. It would also require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to develop uniform formats for plans and insurers to use to request directory information from providers, and it would authorize the departments to establish methodology and processes to ensure accuracy of provider directories.
AB 1842 (Reyes, D-San Bernardino)
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Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee on April 10. Pending an Assembly floor vote.
AB 1842 would ban prior authorization for medication-assisted treatment.
AB 3059 (Weber, D-La Mesa)
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April 23 hearing in the Assembly Health Committee
AB 3059 would clarify that donor milk is covered as part of essential health benefits for babies who have a medical necessity. The bill would exempt hospitals from having a tissue bank license in order to distribute donor milk to babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.
AB 3221 (Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz)
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Passed the Assembly Health Committee on April 16. To be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 3221 would require records, books, and other documentation from health plans to be available for inspection, including in electronic form, by the Department of Managed Health Care.
AB 3275 (Soria, D-Merced and R. Rivas, D-Salinas)
Support
Passed the Assembly Health Committee on April 16. To be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 3275 would update and clarify requirements for health care service plans or health insurers to timely reimburse services provided by a small or rural providers, critical access hospitals, or distressed hospitals.
SB 999 (Cortese, D-Campbell)
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April 24 hearing in the Senate Health Committee
SB 999 would impose certain requirements on health plans and insurers, including:
- Having qualified health care providers in the relevant clinical specialty review appeals and make initial review determinations
- Maintaining telephone and other direct communication access during normal business hours for health care providers to request authorization for mental health and substance use disorder care
- Providing health care providers and enrollees the clinical citations used for denials of care
SB 1120 (Becker, D-Menlo Park)
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Passed the Senate Health Committee on April 10. April 22 hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 1120 would address a health plan’s use of artificial intelligence decision-making tools to inform authorization or coverage decisions.
SB 1320 (Wahab, D-Fremont)
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Passed the Senate Health Committee on April 10. April 22 hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee postponed.
SB 1320 would require health plans and insurers to create a process to reimburse providers for mental health and substance use disorder treatment services that are integrated with primary care services.