The Health Law Ticker

California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability recently adopted emergency regulations (Final Regulations) implementing the Health Care Market Oversight Program, required under California’s Health Care Quality and Affordability Act (HCQAA). HCQAA, which created the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA), requires “health care entities” to provide written notice of certain “material change transactions” to OHCA. (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 127500 et seq.) OHCA may then conduct a cost and market impact review (CMIR), with the overarching goal of ...

The California Supreme Court recently issued its decision in Boermeester v. Carry. Though the case deals with fair procedure within a private university’s internal disciplinary proceedings, it provides helpful guidance for peer review bodies navigating medical disciplinary hearings.

Boermeester reiterated the long-standing admonition that courts should not try to impose “rigid procedures” upon private organizations’ administrative proceedings. Rather, the organizations themselves should develop methods for providing the fundamentals of fair ...

With the tremendous growth of managed care over the last several years, the Medicare and Medicaid programs have had to transform how they fund health care for approximately 100 million enrollees. According to the Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG), 2022 saw half of Medicare enrollees receive coverage through Medicare Advantage plans. As a result, government spending on Medicare Advantage was $403B, or about 50% of all Medicare funds. Similarly, 81% of current Medicaid enrollees receive some component of their coverage through managed ...

California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is in the final stages of establishing new Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) requirements in Medi-Cal Managed Care. Most significantly, the guidelines specify that the MLR program, which previously applied to Medi-Cal managed care plans, will now also apply to certain of their subcontractors, including risk-bearing providers. … 

On May 18, 2023 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a Notice for Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for updates to the Health Breach Notification Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 318 (the Rule). The Rule serves to ensure entities that are not defined as Covered Entities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are nevertheless accountable when the sensitive health information of consumers is compromised and that entities cannot conceal breaches from consumers. The Rule imposes notification requirements for a breach of unsecured identifiable health ...

May 11, 2023 marked a milestone in the pandemic response with the expiration of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). The expiration of the PHE marks an end to the wide-reaching efforts undertaken by the federal government through emergency declarations, congressional and regulatory actions that provided flexibilities for the healthcare industry to ensure continuous delivery of health services during the PHE. As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) explained, while some of these changes are extended or made permanent, others are not. Medicare ...

A recent survey found that the average wait time for a new patient to see a physician in 15 of the largest cities in the U.S. was 26 days, up from 24.1 days in 2017. Timely access to health care providers has long been an issue, but appears to be worsening in certain geographies and provider types. Until recently, timely access to care was regulated at the state level; however, in April, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled its proposed rule to address the issue. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality (CMS-2439-P) (NPRM) only ...

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) on March 4, 2022, assessed the largest penalty against a health plan in the Department’s history. DMHC and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) jointly announced the results of enforcement actions against Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County, more commonly known as L.A. Care. The penalties assessed by DMHC and DHCS against L.A. Care include $55 million in fines, which consist of a $35 million fine from DMHC and a $20 million sanction from DHCS. The amount is by far the largest penalty ...

Well, not exactly. However, in an expansion of regulatory oversight, the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) finalized a new rule last year broadening the scope of “person[s]” required to obtain a license under the Knox-Keene Act. The new rule, 28 CCR Section 1300.49, is likely the most significant policy development in California managed care oversight since the enactment of laws governing risk bearing organizations in the late 1990s. Absent legislative or further regulatory action, any entity accepting any amount of global risk in exchange for a prepaid or periodic ...

On March 5th, the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) issued its first COVID-19 related All-Plan Letter (APL 20-006) regarding screening and testing. The DMHC directed all full service commercial and Medi-Cal health care service plans to immediately reduce cost-sharing to zero for all medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19. Of note, the APL directed that health plans “ensure” provider networks are adequate to handle an increase in the need for healthcare services, including offering access to out of network services as COVID-19 cases increase. The ...