AB 2383: State Department of Developmental Services: training programs for care management professionals.

Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, makes the State Department of Developmental Services (department) responsible for providing various services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities, and for ensuring the appropriateness and quality of those services and supports. Pursuant to that law, the department contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities. The services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP), developed in accordance with prescribed requirements.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law requires each hospital to have a written discharge planning policy and process that requires that the appropriate arrangements for posthospital care are made prior to discharge, as specified.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law provides for various home- and community-based services, as part of a waiver or a state plan amendment under the Medicaid program, to promote coverage and services that enable an individual who would otherwise be institutionalized to live at home or in the community.

This bill would require the State Department of Developmental Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services, Services and the State Department of Public Health, to develop or contract for the development of, and to implement by July 1, 2025, required training programs for specified general acute care hospital and regional center care management professionals, to provide those care management professionals with an understanding of Medi-Cal home- and community-based waivers, as specified, and information on how to identify a newborn who is likely to qualify for any of those waivers. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to make the training program available for hospital care management professionals, as specified. The bill would require a care management professional to provide the family of a child with a developmental disability, as defined, the identified families with information and a navigation plan for Medi-Cal home- and community-based waiver programs when the care management professional has reason to believe that it is more likely than not that the child would qualify under one or more waivers. The bill would require the information and navigation plan to be provided upon discharge from the hospital hospital, as specified, or as part of the regional centers IPP process, as applicable. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime with respect to hospital care management professionals, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would specify the timeframe for completion of the initial training by a care management professional. The bill would require the department State Department of Developmental Services to solicit and consider stakeholder input when developing the training program, and would authorize the department to consult or collaborate with the State Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Public Health, as specified. program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.