Hospitals Face Financial Headaches [Publication Details]

Feb 20, 2002 - California hospitals face significant financial pressures in the next several years, particularly from recent federal regulations limiting the amount the state can pay public hospitals participating in Medi-Cal. We recommend steps the Legislature could take even in difficult fiscal times to deal with problems faced by hospitals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/862

Assessing the Governor's Proposed Medi-Cal Reductions [Publication Details]

Feb 20, 2002 - We recommend against adopting administration proposals to reduce provider rates for certain services and charge copayments to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. We propose a different copayment approach. We recommend approval of a proposal to reduce the cost of Medi-Cal drug purchases and offer some additional approaches that could save the state money on purchases of drugs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/863

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) [Publication Details]

Mar 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.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/800

A More Rational Approach to Setting Medi-Cal Physician Rates [Publication Details]

Feb 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.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/754

Health and Social Services Block Grant Not A Good Fit for Counties [Publication Details]

Feb 18, 2004 - the Governor proposes to consolidate into a single block grant, funding for state-only programs which serve immigrants, and transfer these programs to the counties effective October 1, 2004. The proposal assumes that counties will achieve administrative efficiencies, so proposed block grant funding has been reduced by 5 percent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/1117

Part "D" Stands for "Deficit": How the Medicare Drug Benefit Affects Medi-Cal [Publication Details]

Mar 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.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/1282

Expanded Efforts Could Further Reduce Cost of Mental Health Drugs [Publication Details]

Feb 20, 2008 - The cost of mental health drugs in the Medi-Cal Program continues to grow. We estimate the state can save about $5 million General Fund annually by reducing inappropriate prescribing practices.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/1767

"Remodeling" the Drug Medi-Cal Program [Publication Details]

Feb 11, 2004 - California's program for substance abuse treatment services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries, known as Drug Medi-Cal, provides a patchwork of services with an inconsistent level of support for different modes of treatment and for different treatment populations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/1076

An Evaluation of the School-Based Dental Disease Prevention Program [Publication Details]

Apr 1, 1986 - This report is divided into six chapters. In Chapter I, we describe the implementation of the Dental Disease Prevention program. In Chapter II, we summarize the methodology of the University of California San Francisco study. Chapter III reports the results and shortcomings of the study. In Chapter IV, we discuss the impact of the program on state expenditures for medical and dental care.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/510