AB 834: School-based health programs.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes the Administrative Claiming process under which the department is authorized to contract with local governmental agencies and local educational consortia for the purpose of obtaining federal matching funds to assist with the performance of administrative activities relating to the Medi-Cal program that are provided by a local governmental agency or local educational agency (LEA). Existing law also provides that specified services provided by LEAs are covered Medi-Cal benefits and are reimbursable on a fee-for-service basis under the LEA Medi-Cal billing option. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to engage in specified activities relating to the LEA Medi-Cal billing option, such as amending the Medicaid state plan to ensure that schools shall be reimbursed for all eligible services and examining methodologies for increasing school participation in the LEA Medi-Cal billing option. Existing law requires that these activities be funded and staffed by proportionately reducing federal Medicaid payments allocable to LEAs for the provision of benefits funded by federal Medicaid program payments under the LEA Medi-Cal billing option in an amount not to exceed $1,500,000 annually.

This bill would require the State Department of Education to, no later than July 1, 2018, establish an Office of School-Based Health Programs for the purpose of, among other things, administering health-related programs under the purview of the State Department of Education and advising on issues related to the delivery of school-based Medi-Cal services in the state. The bill would authorize the office to develop a workgroup for the purpose of assisting the offices efforts that shall be representative of the diversity of California LEAs and include representatives of specified entities involved in the delivery of school-based Medi-Cal services, as specified. The bill would authorize the office to form additional technical advisory groups, as specified, and would require the State Department of Education to make available to the office any information on other school-based dental, health, and mental health programs. The bill would require the office to be supported through an interagency agreement with the State Department of Health Care Services, by federal matching funds available through the Administrative Claiming process for eligible staff time, and would authorize the office to receive additional funds from grants and other sources. The bill would increase the annual funding limit for the activities of the State Department of Health Care Services that support the LEA Medi-Cal billing option to $2,000,000, and require that $500,000 of that amount be available for transfer to the State Department of Education to support the office pursuant to that interagency agreement.