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March 27, 2001 - Compliance with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) will require the health care industry to change processes and systems that will result in significant costs. We recommend that the Legislature approve the funding to support HIPAA compliance activities but recommend the enactment of state legislation providing an appropriate policy framework to govern HIPAA compliance activities.
February 21, 2001 - The Governor's budget proposes to establish a new fund--the Tobacco Settlement Fund--to be used for specific health programs. In the following pages, we summarize the initiative and discuss our findings and related recommendations.
February 6, 2001 - Realignment, enacted in 1991, transferred various mental health, health, and social services programs from the state to county control. It also altered program cost-sharing ratios, and provided counties with dedicated tax revenues to pay for these changes. Although realignment has been largely successful, we recommend implementation of several changes including a simplified allocation structure for new revenues that relies on a single formula.
February 1, 2001 - Our analysis indicates that no rational basis exists for setting Medi-Cal physician rates, and that current rates are lower than those paid by the federal Medicare Program and others. Commencing in 2002-03, we recommend that the state adjust rates based upon a comprehensive analysis of access to physician services and the quality of care provided to beneficiaries.
January 30, 2001 - The Children's Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) program's role as a "gateway" to the Healthy Families Program has never been fully established. We recommend several changes in California designed to reduce the number of uninsured children and promote comprehensive health coverage for low-income children.
December 14, 2000 - We outline the implementation issues and challenges with regard to Proposition 36, the "Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000." We also make several recommendations. In our view, planning must begin now in order to ensure the effective implementation of the measure.
March 8, 2000 - The past 43 years in California have seen significant changes in the care and treatment of the mentally ill. We highlights the major events that have altered the administration and funding of the programs for the mentally ill since 1957.
February 17, 2000 - The state's prisons now hold far more mentally ill offenders than its state mental hospitals. Additionally, an increasing number of inmates with severe mental disorders are being released to the community to an inadequate patchwork of supervision, treatment services, and assistance. We discuss several initiatives in the Governor's budget plan aimed at keeping the mentally ill out of the criminal justice system and suggest a more comprehensive approach for addressing these complex problems.
February 17, 2000 - We summarize the initiative and provide our assessment of it.
July 13, 1999 - We identify several problems in the state's substance abuse treatment system. These include lengthy waiting lists in a number of counties, no statewide plan for addressing the demand for treatment services, and a need in particular for treatment services aimed at adolescents.
June 2, 1999 - Roughly two million low-income children and their parents, primarily in working families, do not have health coverage in California. We have developed a “Family Coverage Model” which would result in an additional 0.9 million to 1.4 million persons obtaining health coverage at an annual cost of $188 million to $385 million annually when fully implemented.