AB 1117: Medi-Cal: vaccination rates.

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 and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires each county to establish a community child health and disability prevention program to include, among other things, health screening and evaluation services for all children that include immunizations and an assessment of immunization status.

This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to establish and administer the California Childhood Immunization Quality Improvement Fund (CCIQIF) program to improve childhood immunization rates, and would require the department to submit an application to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a waiver to implement a 5-year demonstration project to implement the program. The bill would require the department to develop a plan for the collection and expenditure of CCIQIF moneys according to specified guidelines, including voluntary contributions from Medi-Cal managed care plans to be used for provider support payments and reward payments to Medi-Cal managed care plans, as specified. The bill would require the department to contract with specified researchers to develop and submit to the Legislature an evaluation of the effectiveness of the demonstration project. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on a specified date.