California has established the Office of Health Care Affordability to oversee health care cost growth and promote high quality, equitable care delivery. This new state agency will profoundly shape how health care is paid for and delivered going forward.
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 will extend to payers, such as health plans and public health care coverage programs, providers, including hospitals and physician groups, and fully-integrated delivery systems.
Governance. The office will be overseen by an eight-member board with input from an advisory committee.
Implementation of the office will occur gradually over the next several years:
The office will do its work during 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.
The following resources are designed to help health care leaders better understand how the office will work and the scope of its authority:
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