The Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services will convene a hearing to discuss the risks to federal health care funding in light of the threats to the Affordable Care Act. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, February 22 at 2:30 pm. Hearing materials will be posted here.
Read More »The Kaiser Family Foundation created a tool to compare the ACA replacement ideas that have been proposed at the federal level. The tool can compare up to three plans and includes the current ACA law, HHS Secretary Tom Price’s Empowering Patients First Act, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s A Better Way plan, Senator Bill Cassidy’s Patient…
Read More »Last Spring, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care Final Rule, which addressed beneficiary rights and protections, program integrity, care coordination and network adequacy. In the Final Rule, states were required to implement state-specific standards for network adequacy in regards to time and distance. This week, DHCS…
Read More »House Republicans released a broad policy brief on their developing ACA replacement plan, which included talking points around their plan to modernize Medicaid, utilize State Innovation Grants, enhance Health Savings Accounts, and to provide portable, monthly tax credits. This document is meant to provide House Republicans with information to take home with them during their…
Read More »On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule on health care. Key changes proposed by the rule include: Shortening the upcoming annual enrollment period from November 1, 2017, to December 15, 2017. Adjusting the de minimis range used for determining the level of coverage provided by insurers. Requiring additional supporting…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is now accepting nominations for the 2017 Beverlee A. Myers Award for Excellence in Public Health. As you may know, this award recognizes the contributions of public health and health care professionals who have in some way worked to improve the health status of Californians. Deadlines for nominee…
Read More »This week two Senate Committees held cannabis related hearings. The Senate Governance and Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Mike McGuire (D-San Rafael), convened on Tuesday to mainly discuss compliance issues with industry and law enforcement as well as issues about the administration of cannabis taxes statewide. Arguably, the star of the hearing, however, was an…
Read More »The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released a report earlier this week on Governor Brown’s cannabis implementation proposals. The LAO agreed with the Governor that aligning the statewide regulatory structures for both medical and adult use cannabis is reasonable, but noted several uncertainties regarding the resources needed to implement both programs, the aggressive timeline for implementation,…
Read More »Today, the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation (BMCR) announced they are now accepting applications for the Cannabis Advisory Committee to advise the bureau on matters relating to both medical and adult recreational use of cannabis. This statewide committee will provide feedback to BMCR, the Department of Food & Agriculture, and the Department of Public Health…
Read More »Early this morning, the Senate voted to approve, along party lines 52-47, the confirmation of Georgia Congressman Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Price will be expected to implement the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), once fleshed out by Congress and the Administration. However, in the meantime, the…
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