In This Issue Advocacy Campaigns
CaliforniaHealth+
CPCA News
Dept. of Health Care Services
Health Center Operations
HR Update
State Legislative Update
2015 Annual Sponsors
Advocacy Campaigns
SB 4:Health For All Needs Your Support TODAY!
Similar to CPCA’s legislative packet, SB 4 (Lara), Health carecoverage: immigration status, now sits on the Governor’s deskawaiting action. If you have not already sent a letter of support(LOS) addressed to the Governor, please submit a LOS on yourorganization’s letterhead using this template to [email protected].
CPCA’s Government Affairs All Member Weekly Update Call
CPCA’s Government Affairs All Member Weekly Update CallHosted by Sean South, Associate Director of Policy and LegislationEvery Wednesday / 11– 11:30 a.m. (may end earlier if subjectmatter is covered before 11:30 a.m.) Callin number: 18885859008/ Conference Room: 616 822 842#. If you would like an update on aspecific issue covered by any of our Government Affairs staff,please send your request to Sean South at [email protected] theMonday preceding our Wednesday call. We will be providing afederal update and an update on each of our sponsored bills.
What are CaliforniaHealth+’s core values?
We understand you, fit your lifestyle, care for your whole family,
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Grant Opportunities | Training & Events | CPCA Employment
September 24, 2015
reflect communities, put you at the center, deliver quality care, andwant you to be well. Whoever you are, we speak your language,honor your traditions and value your experiences. We treat everyonewith respect and courtesy. We are a trusted friend and partner inyour care. Join the CaliforniaHealth+ movement today by clicking here in orderto go through the online Rapid Recognition process.
For more information about CaliforniaHealth+, contact Val Sheehan,Director of Development & External Relations, [email protected] (916) 4408170.
New CaliforniaHealth+ Members
The following sites have recently joined the CaliforniaHealth+network of health centers and community clinics throughout thestate. Welcome to our new CaliforniaHealth+ centers!
Harmony Health Medical Clinic and Family Resource CenterPomona Community Health Center
CPCA News
Nonstop Wellness's Nonprofit Executive Networking HappyHour
CPCA’s newest Silver Annual Sponsor, Nonstop, a nontraditionalhealth broker serving the nonprofit sector, is hosting an executivenetworking happy hour on September 29th at 5 p.m. in Los Angeles.Come network, hear an introduction to partial selfinsurance and talkto other nonprofit leaders about tackling healthcare costs in 2016.Click here to RSVPSpace Is Limited, RSVP today! Want to learnmore about how partial selfinsurance can deflate your organization'shealthcare costs, click here to download a white paper.
Is Your CCHC Struggling With Workforce Issues? Then Don'tMiss This Year’s Annual Conference Keynote Speaker!
What is the primary care clinician crisis? How does it affect ourpatients and population? Come to hear the data from Dr. DavidHayesBautista, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center forthe Study of Latino Health and Culture at the School of Medicine,UCLA, and leave with an idea of what you can do to help battle thiscrisis. You won’t want to miss out on all of this year’s activitiestaking place at this year’s Annual Conference, including theManaged Care Summit & Reception, CPCA’s firstever SilentAuction, mobile app, Health & Wellness Expo, and more! Hope tosee you there! For more information, please click here.
Contra Costa County Adds Health Care for Immigrant Adults
As reported by National Public Radio earlier today, Contra CostaCounty, which includes the cities of Richmond, Concord andAntioch, joins 46 other California counties that have agreed toprovide nonemergency care to immigrants who entered the countryillegally. "Providing health care coverage to all is not only about thehuman morality issue that we should address, but also from a costeffective point of view ... this is absolutely the right thing," said JaneGarcia, CEO of La Clínica de la Raza, which serves 25,000 patientsin Contra Costa, many of them lowincome Latinos. Click here toread the entire story.
Register for Women's Health Update 2015
Early Bird Registration Discounts End Soon. Register by September30th to Save 20%! Join Us October 27 + 28 at the CaliforniaEndowment in Los Angeles. California Family Health Council(CFHC) is proud to present the 32nd Annual Women's HealthUpdate on Oct 27 + 28 in Los Angeles. Women's Health Update is atwoday clinical conference for health professionals seekingcontinuing education on the most uptodate best practices andclinical guidelines for providing quality sexual and reproductive healthcare in diverse health care settings. The conference opens with preconference clinical practica and follows with a day of plenarysessions and workshops with renowned national experts in the field.
Western Forum for Migrant and Community Health: Deadline forAbstracts Extended
Western Forum for Migrant and Community Health, will be held inPortland OR, February 2426. The deadline to submit new abstractsis: Friday, October 2nd, 2015. Abstracts submitted for presentationshould examine current programs, practices and/or policies related toaddressing disparities in health and health care experienced byfarmworkers and other vulnerable populations. Click here to submityour abstract.
Webinar: Telehealth & Community Health Centers: Can It Work
Financially in California
This webinar will be Monday, October 5th. It is being specificallyheld for CPCA members and will explore the barriers and potentialsolutions for California Community Health Centers (CHCs) inemploying telehealth services. Presenters will share the findings andrecommendations of a study commissioned by the Center forConnected Health Policy and assess the potential for usingtelehealth with alternative payment models. Click here for moreinformation and to join the webinar.
Department of Health Care Services
DHCS Releases DRAFT MediCal Managed Care Plan Guideand Choice Book for CCI Participants
DHCS has released for stakeholder comment a new draft MediCalManaged Care Plan Guide and Choice Book. These materials will bemailed to two groups of dual eligible beneficiaries as part of theirregular enrollment process:
• New dual eligible beneficiaries who have Medicare first and latergain MediCal eligibility in CCI counties; and• Existing dual eligible beneficiaries who move into a CCI county.
DHCS is accepting stakeholder comment on the draft Guide andChoice book. Click here for online materials. Please submit yourcomments, edits, or questions to [email protected] by October 2,2015.
Health Center Operations
Office of Minority Health Resource Center Grant Webinar Series
The Office of Minority Health Resource Center is pleased to presenta new webinar series designed for communitybased, faithbased,and other organizations that want to learn the basics of creatingsuccessful federal grant applications.
(1) October 6 at 12:30 p.m. PDT: “Technical Assistance:Foundations of Grant Writing”This introductory webinar, for communitybased organizations thatwant to respond to federal funding opportunity announcements,covers the basics from how to register in the System for AwardManagement (SAM) to the key sections in funding announcementsto successful strategies for responding. Register for this webinarhere.
(2) October 20 at 12:30 p.m. PDT: “Why All the Excitement aboutLogic Models?”This webinar provides an overview of logic models and when to usethem in both applications and evaluations. The webinar includes howto write specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely(SMART)objectives and how to access logic model designs. Logicmodel templates are provided. Register for this webinar here.
(3) November 5 at 12:30 p.m. PDT: “Getting to Know the FederalGovernment and Funding Opportunities”
A federal funders panel reveals best practices in responding tofederal funding announcements. Opportunities for federal funding areidentified. Register for this webinar here.
HR Update
How PrimaryCare Physicians are Handling the Influx of NewlyInsured
Before the Affordable Care Act, there were concerns that theprimarycare delivery system would struggle amid increased demandfor services from patients gaining coverage. A systematic survey bythe Kaiser Family Foundation and the Commonwealth Fundindicates that these fears have largely not come to pass. Primarycare physicians did report increased demand for services under theACA. Four in 10 (44%) said the total number of patients they seehad increased since January 2014, and six in ten (59%) reported anincrease in the number of patients who were newly insured orcovered by Medicaid. But providers did not report that this increaseddemand was swamping their practices.
MediCal Update
Family PACT UpdateClinics and HospitalsPart 1 Program and EligibilityCAMMIS Health Enterprise: Status UpdateCorrection: CAMMIS Health Enterprise: PE ProviderRegistration and Applicant Enrollment
Ending of Accelerated Enrollment for MediCal Eligibility NotDetermined in 45Days
The Department of Health Care Services ended acceleratedenrollment (AE) cases where MediCal eligibility is not determinedwithin the 45day timeframe. The authority provided by the Centersfor Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) to DHCS enabling DHCS to grantAE to applicants in pending status for 45 days, expired on July 31,2015. The week of September 7, 2015, was the last week thatDHCS performed the 45day batch process under existing CMSauthority. Under the court order in the Rivera lawsuit, DHCS is stillrequired to send a Notice of Inaction (NOI) to applicants whoseapplication is in pending status for 45 days. The NOI provides suchapplicants information about their hearing rights.
Medicaid Update
HHS Vows Push to Enroll More Uninsured in Obamacare thisFall
The health law’s upcoming enrollment period may be its toughestyet, with federal officials promising a vigorous outreach campaign toenroll millions of eligible yet hardtoreach Americans who have yetto sign up for health insurance. “Those who are still uninsured aregoing to be a bigger challenge,” Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Tuesday at theHoward University College of Medicine. This year’s enrollmentcampaign will be harder in part because officials will be pursuingthose who have declined to sign up for health insurance during thetwo previous enrollment seasons. To read more, click here.
Feds Say Nearly 18 Million Now Insured Through Obamacare
Nearly 18 million people have gained health insurance thanks to theAffordable Care Act, but 10.5 million more uninsured could sign upfor plans on state and federal exchanges, Health and HumanServices Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Tuesday. She also notedthat the 17.6 million people who gained coverage included childrenup to age 26 who were able to stay on their parent’s plans, theexpansion of Medicaid and the availability of the state and federalinsurance exchanges. The uninsured rate dropped 10.3% amongAfricanAmericans as 2.6 million gained coverage. Four millionLatino adults also became insured, representing an 11.5% decline inthe rate of uninsured Hispanics.
Number of Uninsured in Calif. Fell Nearly 27% in 2014, CensusData Show
California was among the six states with the largest drops inuninsured rates last year, according to a Census Bureau reportreleased Wednesday. The report is the first of its kind to be releasedsince the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansions took effect.Overall, the Census Bureau data show that the number of U.S.residents who were uninsured for the entire calendar year fell from41.8 million in 2013 to 33 million in 2014, reflecting a decline in theuninsured rate from 13.3% to 10.4% (Census Bureau release, 9/16).
Website Will Compare Health Insurance
California Department of Insurance officials have announced a newwebsite that will enable consumers to comparisonshop for healthinsurance. It's a collaborative effort between the CDI, UCSanFrancisco and Consumer Reports. The project is federally fundedthrough the Affordable Care Act. The new site "will allowCalifornians to access and compare health care prices and qualityso they can make better informed decisions about treatmentoptions," CDI officials said in a written release. The website is "thefirst of its kind" in California, though the Covered California healthbenefit exchange does have a health insurance comparison tool onits website. To read more, click here.
State Legislative Update
SB 4 (Lara) Health for AllSenator Lara’s signature bill, SB 4, continues to move forward as avehicle to expand fullscope MediCal to children, regardless of theirimmigration status, as approved in the state budget. However,provisions of the SB 4 that would expand similar coverage toundocumented adults and allow undocumented immigrants the rightto enter into Covered California without subsidy, have been removedfrom the SB 4 and added to SB 10. SB 10 is a two year bill and willnot be considered until next year. SB 4 has been passed by the
legislature and has been sent to the Governor for consideration.
SB 147 (Hernandez) Payment Reform Pilot Program forFederally Qualified Health Centers Senate Bill 147 by Senator Ed Hernandez (DWest Covina) requiresthe Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) to authorize avoluntary threeyear alternative payment methodology pilot forFederally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) in California. Under thepilot, participating FQHCs would receive capitated monthlypayments from their health plan rather than the traditional feeforservice pervisit reimbursement s from DHCS. The capitatedpayment will provide the FQHC with greater flexibility to deliverhealth care to the patient in a manner that best meets the patient’sneeds. SB 147 has been passed by the legislature and has beensent to the Governor for consideration.
SB 610 (Pan) Timely Reimbursement of Health Centers SB 610Senate Bill 610 by Senator Richard Pan (DSacramento) establishesreasonable timelines for the Department of Healthcare Services(DHCS) to finalize MediCal reimbursement rates and complete theannual reconciliation process for federally qualified health centers(FQHCs). The author has amended the bill, and it now requireDHCS to finalize a health center rate within 1 year after receivingthe requisite information and complete the annual reconciliationwithin 18 months of the last date of the fiscal year for which thedepartment is conducting the review. SB 610 has been passed bythe legislature and has been sent to the Governor for consideration.
AB 858 (Wood) Improving Access to Behavioral HealthServicesAssembly Bill 858 by Assembly member Jim Wood (DHealdsburg)will increase Californians’ access to mental health services bypermitting Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) services at anFQHC or RHC to be reimbursed on a pervisit basis, just asservices provided by other mental health professionals arereimbursed. FQHC’s and RHCs will be required to complete a rateadjustment or submit for a new rate prior to initiating MFT’s as abillable provider. AB 858 was amended on July 1 to eliminate aprovision that allowed patients to access mental health and medicalservices on the same day, and be reimbursed for each. For a fulldescription of this bill, and its history, click here. AB 858 has beenpassed by the legislature and has been sent to the Governor forconsideration.
AB 1130 (Gray) Improving Access to Primary Health CareAB 1130 allows parttime primary care clinics operating on anintermittent basis the option to provide 30 hours of care per week,rather than 20 hours, as currently allowed by law. The additional 10hours per week will allow primary care clinics to better meet theneeds of their communities. AB 1130 has been passed by thelegislature and has been sent to the Governor for consideration.
Workgroup, Taskforce & Peer Network Updates
The 2015 Salary Survey is NOW AVAILABLE!
Once again, the California Primary Care Association (CPCA) isconducting our annual, statewide compensation and benefits surveyof community clinic and health centers in California. YOURPARTICIPATION IS CRITICAL! Not only is your health center
information important in understanding the statewide context ofhealth center compensation models, but as a survey participant, youwill also receive a free copy of the survey report! You will alsoreceive a customized confidential report that compares yourresponses to those of comparable clinics/health centers in the study.Access to the survey requires an organizational password;passwords were sent to all eligible organizations on September 17th,2015. Please contact Jeanita Harris by email [email protected] orphone 9164408170 if you have not received your password. Pleasealso visit the Salary Survey webpage for more information and foraccess to the survey. Survey responses are due October 9, 2015.
California Primary Care Association1231 I Street, Suite 400Sacramento, CA 95814
Ph 9164408170 | Fax 9164408172
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