This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Action needed:
Urge your congressional representatives to provide additional relief to hospitals caring for their communities during the pandemic and avoid a rush to include surprise medical billing legislation in any year-end package.
To find your representative’s contact information, visit www.house.gov/representatives/find
Timing:
Contact representatives this week (by Dec. 15).
Background:
As Congress continues to negotiate year-end spending issues and seems to be making progress toward a COVID-19 relief bill, there is also a significant effort underway in the House to include legislation on surprise medical billing in a year-end package.
A rushed effort on surprise billing legislation could threaten access to care and devastate providers’ abilities to fully respond to the COVID-19 resurgence that is overwhelming California right now. CHA has partnered with colleagues at the California Medical Association to oppose this 11th hour effort (see our coordinated message points).
Hospitals agree that surprise billing must end, but the proposals being considered reward insurance companies by stripping nearly $20 billion from providers on the front lines of the pandemic. COVID-19 patients are protected from surprise medical bills during the pandemic because providers agreed to not balance bill as a condition of accepting Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Stimulus Act Provider Relief Fund payments.
Please contact your representatives and urge them not to include these harmful provisions in any end-of-year legislation.
CHA also urges hospital leaders to continue to ask their representatives to take action to support providers during the lame duck session by continuing specific funding provisions and passing a much-needed COVID-19 relief bill as outlined in CHA’s Nov. 9 Alert.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development has awarded $17.3 million in grants to seven programs to help build the pipeline of public mental health professionals in California.
Upcoming changes to Medi-Cal will have a tremendous impact on hospitals. One of those changes is related to the Behavioral Health Payment Reform. Review this education brief to better understand realignment, proposed behavioral health payment reform and the two phases of implementation.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Today, President Biden signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package that will bring much-needed relief to a wide swath of the country including: an extension of jobless supplement programs, direct $1,400 payments to most Americans, an expansion of the child tax credit, support for restaurants, rental assistance, support for schools, and billions of dollars to state and local governments.
REMEMBER, RECHARGE, and RECONNECT “Learn from the past, prepare for the future, live in the present.” -Thomas Monson What health care workers experienced over the last two years will be talked about for generations to come. We suffered professional and personal losses, pushed ourselves beyond our limits, and learned more than we ever expected. Fortunately, […]
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
In June 2022, the Legislature and governor approved a $308 billion budget for the state fiscal year spanning from July 2022 through June 2023. In late August, the Legislature passed and the governor is expected to approve revisions to the 2022-23 Budget Act, which generally redirect, build upon, or provide statutory parameters around actions previously...
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
On May 13, Gov. Newsom released the May Revision with modifications to the proposed state budget he first presented in January.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Opioid abuse is a long-standing problem in California.The substance use disorder (SUD) crisis might seem insurmountable, but the CA Bridge Program has developed a model of care that saves lives and helps patients with SUDs get back on track. The 24/7 program is built upon three pillars: rapid access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT), welcoming and destigmatized care and specially trained substance use navigators (SUNs) that connect patients to ongoing care and support.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), is a multiyear process led by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), with goals to improve the health outcomes and quality of life experienced by Medi-Cal patients.
The CalAIM initiative, originally scheduled for Jan. 1, 2021, implementation, was postponed due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. In January, DHCS released a revised proposal that includes changes based on stakeholder feedback and an updated implementation timeline of Jan. 1, 2022.
These changes to Medi-Cal will have a tremendous impact on hospitals. Please join us for the webinar that will help you understand what lies ahead and how to prepare for these changes.
