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November 16, 2005 - Presented to Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services
November 16, 2005 - Presented to the Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services
November 2, 2005 - Presented to the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No.1 on Health and Human Services
August 16, 2005 - We identify the differences between the projections of Medi-Cal Program expenditures recently released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and those prepared by our office, and shed light on the reasons for those differences.
April 28, 2005 - Presented to: Senate Budget Committee No. 3 on Health and Human Services
April 28, 2005 - Presented to the Little Hoover Commission on April 28, 2005.
March 16, 2005 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 On Health and Human Services
March 15, 2005 - The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act, also referred to as the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) makes significant changes to the federal Medicare program. The implementation of the Medicare drug benefit component of MMA, known as Part D, is likely to cause significant net financial losses to the state for years and have other major programmatic impacts on Medi-Cal. We recommend some limited actions and strategies the Legislature can take to address these potential problems.
March 9, 2005 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1
February 24, 2005 - Index of Information Technology Issues in the Analysis of the Budget Bill, 2005-06
February 24, 2005 - We recommend the Legislature approve the Governor’s budget proposal for Proposition 99-funded programs, which shifts allocations of tobacco tax revenues to maximize resources for health programs and achieve General Fund savings. We further recommend that the Legislature begin this year to address the long-term issues posed by the present structure of Proposition 99.
February 24, 2005 - Our analysis finds that the way the state sets rates for vendors who provide community services for the developmentally disabled on the whole lacks a rational and consistent approach. We review how rates are set for these services and offer an improved and systematic approach that could achieve significant state savings.
February 24, 2005 - The state’s hospital system continues to face a variety of fiscal challenges that weigh particularly heavily on public hospitals. The administration is negotiating with the federal government for a comprehensive redesign of hospital financing as part of its Medi-Cal redesign package. Our review of the plan now under development suggests that it could help preserve the financial stability of public hospitals but also raises some significant fiscal and policy issues.
February 24, 2005 - The seven-part administration redesign proposal would result in broad changes in Medi-Cal managed care as well as some more limited changes in benefits, cost-sharing, and eligibility administration. Overall, we find that the Governor’s proposals are conceptually sound but that the Legislature needs more information about some aspects of the package and that some refinements are warranted.
February 24, 2005 - The Governor proposes a number of significant reforms to California’s subsidized child care system including eligibility restrictions, a new waiting list system, and tiered reimbursement rates. With certain qualifications, we support proposed eligibility and waiting list changes. Although tying reimbursement rates to quality makes sense, the Legislature may wish to consider alternative approaches which increase reimbursement rates for higher quality care rather than simply reducing reimbursement rates (as the Governor proposes) for lower quality care.