Bill Text: CA AB2450 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Air ambulance services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-09-09 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 52, Statutes of 2020. [AB2450 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB2450-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  May 12, 2020

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 04, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2450

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Introduced by Assembly Member Grayson

February 19, 2020

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An act to add Section 14124.16 to the Welfare and Institutions amend Section 76000.10 of the Government Code, relating to air ambulance services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2450, as amended, Grayson. Air ambulance services.

Existing law, until July 1, 2022, imposes a penalty of $4 until July 1, 2020, upon every conviction for a violation of the Vehicle Code or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, other than a parking offense. The act requires the county or court that imposed the fine to transfer the revenues collected to the Treasurer for deposit into the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund. Existing law requires the assessed penalty to continue to be collected, administered, and distributed until exhausted or until December 30, 2021, whichever occurs first.

This bill would extend the above-specified dates by 2 years. By extending the length of time a county is required to collect and transfer the fines imposed, the bill would impose a state-mandated local 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.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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 authorizes an eligible provider to receive increased reimbursement, by application of an add-on increase to the associated Medi-Cal fee-for-service payment schedule, for emergency medical transports provided to applicable Medi-Cal beneficiaries, but excludes air ambulances from that increased reimbursement.

This bill would require the department to set and maintain supplemental Medi-Cal payments for air ambulance services provided by fixed or rotary wing aircraft according to a specified payment schedule. The bill would limit the amounts a noncontracting emergency medical transport provider may collect if the beneficiary received medical assistance other than through enrollment in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan to the sum of the supplemental payments and existing fee-for-service payment schedule amounts after the application of the bill’s specified supplemental Medi-Cal payment schedule.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NOYES  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 76000.10 of the Government Code is amended to read:

76000.10.

 (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act.

(b) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Department” means the State Department of Health Care Services.

(2) “Director” means the Director of Health Care Services.

(3) “Provider” means a provider of emergency medical air transportation services.

(4) “Rotary wing” means a type of aircraft, commonly referred to as a helicopter, that generates lift through the use of wings, known as rotor blades, that revolve around a mast.

(5) “Fixed wing” means a type of aircraft, commonly referred to as an airplane, that generates lift through the use of the forward motion of the aircraft and wings that do not revolve around a mast but are fixed in relation to the fuselage of the aircraft.

(6) “Air mileage rate” means the per-mileage reimbursement rate paid for services rendered by rotary-wing and fixed-wing providers.

(c) (1) For purposes of implementing this section, a penalty of four dollars ($4) shall be imposed upon every conviction for a violation of the Vehicle Code or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, except parking offenses subject to Article 3 (commencing with Section 40200) of Chapter 1 of Division 17 of the Vehicle Code.

(2) The penalty described in this subdivision is in addition to the state penalty assessed pursuant to Section 1464 of the Penal Code. However, this penalty shall not be included in the base fine used to calculate the state penalty assessment pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1464 of the Penal Code, the state surcharge levied pursuant to Section 1465.7 of the Penal Code, and the state court construction penalty pursuant to Section 70372 of this code, and to calculate the other additional penalties levied pursuant to this chapter.

(d) The county or the court that imposed the fine shall, in accordance with the procedures set out in Section 68101, transfer moneys collected pursuant to this section to the Treasurer for deposit into the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund, which is hereby established in the State Treasury. Notwithstanding Section 16305.7, the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund shall include interest and dividends earned on money in the fund. Any law that references the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund, as previously established by this subdivision, shall be construed to reference the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund, effective January 1, 2018.

(e) (1) The Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund shall be administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Moneys in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund shall be made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for any of the following purposes:

(A) For children’s health care coverage.

(B) For emergency medical air transportation provider payments, as follows:

(i) For payment of the administrative costs of the department in administering emergency medical air transportation provider payments.

(ii) Twenty percent of the appropriated money remaining after payment of administrative costs pursuant to clause (i) shall be used to offset the state portion of the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for emergency medical air transportation services.

(iii) Eighty percent of the appropriated money remaining after payment of administrative costs pursuant to clause (i) shall be used to augment emergency medical air transportation reimbursement payments made through the Medi-Cal program, as set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2) If money in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund is made available to the department for the purpose described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), both of the following shall occur:

(A) The department shall seek to obtain federal matching funds by using the moneys in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund for the purpose of augmenting Medi-Cal reimbursement paid to emergency medical air transportation providers.

(B) The director shall augment emergency medical air transportation provider payments in accordance with a federally approved reimbursement methodology. The director may seek federal approvals or waivers as may be necessary to implement this section and to obtain federal financial participation to the maximum extent possible for the payments under this section.

(3) (A) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall use moneys in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund and any federal matching funds to do any of the following:

(i) Fund children’s health care coverage.

(ii) Increase the Medi-Cal reimbursement for emergency medical air transportation services in an amount not to exceed normal and customary charges charged by the providers.

(B) Notwithstanding any other law, and pursuant to this section, if money in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund is made available to the department for the purpose described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), the department shall increase the Medi-Cal reimbursement for emergency medical air transportation services if both of the following conditions are met:

(i) Moneys in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund will cover the cost of increased payments pursuant to clause (iii) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1).

(ii) The state does not incur any General Fund expense to pay for the Medi-Cal emergency medical air transportation services increase.

(f) The assessment of penalties pursuant to this section shall terminate on July 1, 2020. 2022. Penalties assessed before July 1, 2020, 2022, shall continue to be collected, administered, and distributed pursuant to this section until exhausted or until December 31, 2021, 2023, whichever occurs first. On December 31, 2021, 2023, moneys remaining unexpended and unencumbered in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children’s Coverage Fund shall be transferred to the General Fund, to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of augmenting Medi-Cal reimbursement for emergency medical air transportation and related costs, generally, or funding children’s health care coverage.

(g) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this section and any applicable federal waivers and state plan amendments by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions without taking regulatory action.

(h)This section shall remain in effect only until July 1, 2022, and as of that date is repealed.

(h) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2024, and, as of January 1, 2025, is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.

SECTION 1.Section 14124.16 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

14124.16.

(a)The department shall set and maintain supplemental Medi-Cal payments for air ambulance services provided by fixed or rotary wing aircraft as follows for the following common procedure terminology (CPT) codes:

A0431	Rotary Wing Transport	$4,022.22
A0436	Rotary Wing Air Mileage	$17.57
A0430	Fixed Wing Air Transport	$3,705.40
A0435	Fixed Wing Air Mileage	$0.45

(b)Each applicable Medi-Cal managed care health plan shall satisfy its obligation under Section 438.114(c) of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations for emergency medical transports and shall provide payment to noncontracting emergency medical transport providers consistent with Section 1396u-2(b)(2)(D) of Title 42 of the United States Code. Commencing in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020, and for each state fiscal year thereafter for which this section is operative, the amounts a noncontracting emergency medical transport provider may collect if the beneficiary received medical assistance other than through enrollment in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan pursuant to Section 1396u-2(b)(2)(D) of Title 42 of the United States Code shall be the sum of the supplemental payments and existing fee-for-service payment schedule amounts after the application of this section.