The newsroom includes access to CHA News, which provides timely information to members every Monday and Thursday and is at the core of CHA benefits. In addition, it is also home to resources such as toolkits and talking points designed to help member hospitals and health systems communicate with internal and external audiences on a range of current health care-related issues. Links to CHA media statements and press releases can also be found here.
Newsroom
CHA-Led Behavioral Health Action Coalition Hosts Governor’s New Mental Health Advisor
Tom Insel, MD, Gov. Newsom’s special advisor on mental health care, spoke on June 25 to the statewide Behavioral Health Action coalition — a group of more than 50 organizations that is co-founded and co-chaired by CHA and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, California. Dr. Insel shared with coalition members his ideas for how California can begin to transform its behavioral health system.
Covered California Announces Preliminary Rates and Carriers for 2020
Covered California announced today that the preliminary average rate change for the 2020 individual market will be 0.8% — lower than the actual average increase over the past five years (7.9%), and the lowest rate change since Covered California first began offering coverage in 2014.
DHCS Requests Updates to Hospital Fee Program Contact List
Last week, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) emailed hospitals requesting updates to their lists of contacts who receive information related to the hospital fee directed payment program. DHCS uses the list to update hospitals regularly as information becomes available for the current and future directed payment programs. Hospitals should complete and return the Excel file (download) to privatedp@dhcs.ca.gov no later than July 19.
Performance Improvements Underway for CDPH Licensing and Certification Program
At a recent CHA Certification and Licensing Committee meeting, representatives from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) shared updates about their work to transform the program. The update responded to CHA’s concerns about CDPH’s continued steep increases in hospital licensing fees, which increased on July 1 up to 20% statewide and up to 35% in Los Angeles County, for a fifth consecutive year of fee increases.
Catalog of Immediate Jeopardy Incidents Updated With Most Recent Penalties
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has assessed a new round of administrative penalties on eight California hospitals, totaling $437,425, for immediate jeopardy incidents.
CDPH Outlines Alternative Pathway for Obtaining a Hospice License
In All Facilities Letter 19-23, issued last week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) outlines an alternative pathway to hospice licensing recently made available through the enactment of Senate Bill 1495 (Chapter 424, Statutes of 2018). Under the bill, CDPH must issue a hospice license to any applicant that meets certain standards, including approval by a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-certified national accreditation organization.
CHA Submits Comment Letter on Accrediting Organization Changes of Ownership
CHA has submitted comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed rule on accrediting organization (AO) changes of ownership. The proposed rule outlines a process by which AOs need to obtain CMS approval for a change in ownership and the tight time frames that providers with deemed status must subsequently follow.
CHA Comments on Draft Co-Location Guidance
CHA has submitted comments on the draft guidance on co-location policies for hospitals that share space, staff, or services with another hospital or health care entity, released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
CMS Delays Billing Edit Requiring Exact Matching for OPPS Providers With Multiple Service Locations Until October
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has postponed the activation of billing edits requiring exact matching for the address on claims data for outpatient prospective payment system providers with multiple service locations. The edits will now be implemented in October 2019.
Federal ‘Conscience’ Rule Delayed
Yesterday, the federal Department of Health and Human Services announced it will delay by four months its expansion of protections for health workers. Referred to as the “conscience rule,” the regulation would protect health care workers who refuse to participate in services — such as abortion, sterilization, and assisted suicide — that run counter to their religious beliefs or moral convictions.
