OHCA, established in 2022, will profoundly shape health care in California. Its legislated goals are to slow health care spending growth, promote high-value system performance, and assess market consolidation. CHA is actively engaged in the implementation process, advocating to improve affordability for patients while ensuring hospitals are able to make much-needed investments to improve access, quality, and equity.
OHCA Impact Dashboard
CHA has projected losses in revenue, jobs, and economic activity by the end of 2029 resulting from OHCA’s spending caps.
CHA has created a data tool to help members replicate calculations used by OHCA to identify so-called “high-cost” hospitals and assess how close they may be to the thresholds.
Senate Bill 184, part of the 2022-23 state budget package, established the Office of Health Care Affordability within the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI). The office’s objectives and responsibilities are to:
Jurisdiction. The office’s authority extends to payers, such as health plans and public health care coverage programs; providers, including hospitals and physician groups; and fully-integrated delivery systems.
Governance. OHCA is housed within the Department of Health Care Access and Information and is overseen by an eight-member board with input from an advisory committee.
See OHCA’s website for links to public meetings, laws and regulations, and additional information.
Implementationof the office will occur gradually over the next several years:
The office’s work coincides with a period of unparalleled financial distress for hospitals. Rising costs, — including expenses for workforce and other needs, along with state-mandated capital improvement projects — mean that hundreds of California’s hospitals are operating with negative margins, losing money every day to care for patients.
