2023 California Code › Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC › DIVISION 9 - PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES › PART 3 - AID AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE › CHAPTER 7 - Basic Health Care › ARTICLE 4 - The Medi-Cal Benefits Program › Section 14132.277.

14132.277. (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Alternate health care service plan” means a prepaid health plan that is a nonprofit health care service plan with at least 3.5 million enrollees statewide, that owns or operates its own pharmacies, and that provides medical services to enrollees in specific geographic regions through an exclusive contract with a single medical group in each specific geographic region in which it operates to provide services to enrollees.
(2) “Cal MediConnect plan” means a health plan or other qualified entity jointly selected by the state and CMS for participation in the demonstration project.
(3) “CMS” means the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
(4) “Coordinated Care Initiative county” means the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Mateo, and Santa Clara, and any other county identified in Appendix 3 of the Memorandum of Understanding Between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the State of California, Regarding a Federal-State Partnership to Test a Capitated Financial Alignment Model for Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees, inclusive of all amendments, as authorized by Section 14132.275.
(5) “D-SNP plan” means a Medicare Advantage Dual Special Needs Plan.
(6) “D-SNP contract” means a federal Medicare Improvements for Patients and Provider Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-275) compliant contract between the department and a D-SNP plan.
(7) “Demonstration project” means the demonstration project authorized by Section 14132.275.
(8) “Excluded beneficiaries” means those beneficiaries who are ineligible to participate in the demonstration project pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 14132.275.
(9) “FIDE-SNP plan” means a Medicare Advantage Fully-Integrated Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan.
(10) “Non-Coordinated Care Initiative counties” means counties not participating in the demonstration project.
(b) For the 2014 calendar year, the department shall offer D-SNP contracts to existing D-SNP plans to continue to provide benefits to their enrollees in their service areas as approved on January 1, 2013. The director may include in any D-SNP contract provisions requiring that the D-SNP plan do the following:
(1) Submit to the department a complete and accurate copy of the bid submitted by the plan to CMS for its D-SNP contract.
(2) Submit to the department copies of all utilization and quality management reports submitted to CMS.
(c) In Coordinated Care Initiative counties, Medicare Advantage plans and D-SNP plans may continue to enroll beneficiaries in 2014. In the 2014 calendar year, beneficiaries enrolled in a Medicare Advantage or D-SNP plan operating in a Coordinated Care Initiative county shall be exempt from the enrollment provisions of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (l) of Section 14132.275. Those beneficiaries may at any time voluntarily choose to disenroll from their Medicare Advantage or D-SNP plan and enroll in a demonstration site operating pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 14132.275. If a beneficiary chooses to do so, that beneficiary may subsequently disenroll from the demonstration site and return to fee-for-service Medicare or to a D-SNP plan or Medicare Advantage plan.
(d) (1) For the 2015 calendar year and the remainder of the demonstration project, in Coordinated Care Initiative counties, the department shall offer D-SNP contracts to D-SNP plans that were approved for the D-SNP plan’s service areas as of January 1, 2013. In Coordinated Care Initiative counties, the department shall enter into D-SNP contracts with D-SNP plans only for excluded beneficiaries and for those beneficiaries identified in paragraphs (2) and (5) of subdivision (g).
(2) For the 2022 contract year and the remainder of the demonstration project, in Coordinated Care Initiative counties, Medi-Cal managed care plans, or their subcontracted delegate health plans, as defined in paragraph (6) of subdivision (h) of Section 14184.208, may transition beneficiaries enrolled in their affiliated non-D-SNP Medicare Advantage plans on or before January 1, 2022, into their affiliated D-SNP plan, if the D-SNP plan was approved for that service area as of January 1, 2013.
(e) For the 2015 calendar year and the remainder of the demonstration project, in non-Coordinated Care Initiative counties, the department may offer D-SNP contracts to D-SNP plans, in accordance with Section 14184.208.
(f) The director may include in a D-SNP contract offered pursuant to subdivision (d) or (e) provisions requiring that the D-SNP plan do the following:
(1) Submit to the department a complete and accurate copy of the bid submitted by the plan to CMS for its D-SNP contract.
(2) Submit to the department copies of all utilization and quality management reports submitted to CMS.
(g) For the 2015 calendar year and the remainder of the demonstration project, in Coordinated Care Initiative counties, the enrollment provisions of subdivision (l) of Section 14132.275 shall apply subject to the following:
(1) Beneficiaries enrolled in a FIDE-SNP plan or a Medicare Advantage plan, other than a D-SNP plan, shall be exempt from the enrollment provisions of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (l) of Section 14132.275.
(2) If the D-SNP plan is not a Cal MediConnect plan, beneficiaries enrolled as of December 31, 2014, in a D-SNP plan shall be exempt from the enrollment provisions of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (l) of Section 14132.275. Those beneficiaries may at any time voluntarily choose to disenroll from their D-SNP plan and enroll in a demonstration site operating pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 14132.275. A dual eligible beneficiary who is enrolled as of December 31, 2014, in a D-SNP plan that is not a Cal MediConnect plan and who opts out of a demonstration site during the course of the demonstration project may choose to reenroll in that D-SNP plan.
(3) If the D-SNP is a Cal MediConnect plan, beneficiaries enrolled in a D-SNP plan who are eligible for the demonstration project shall be subject to the enrollment provisions of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (l) of Section 14132.275.
(4) For FIDE-SNP plans serving beneficiaries in Coordinated Care Initiative counties, the department shall require the following provisions:
(A) After December 31, 2014, enrollment in the County of Los Angeles shall not exceed 6,000 additional beneficiaries at any point during the term of the demonstration project. After December 31, 2014, enrollment in the combined Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino shall not exceed 1,500 additional beneficiaries at any point during the term of the demonstration project. This subparagraph shall be inoperative on July 1, 2021.
(B) Any necessary data or information requirements provided by the FIDE-SNP to ensure contract compliance.
(5) Beneficiaries enrolled in an alternate health care service plan (AHCSP) who become dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits while enrolled in that AHCSP may elect to enroll in the AHCSP’s D-SNP plan subject to the following requirements:
(A) The beneficiary was a member of the AHCSP immediately before becoming dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
(B) Upon mutual agreement between a Cal MediConnect Plan operated by a health authority or commission contracting with the department and the AHCSP, the AHCSP shall take full financial and programmatic responsibility for certain long-term supports and services of the D-SNP enrollee, including, but not limited to, certain long-term skilled nursing care, community-based adult services, multipurpose senior services program services, and other applicable Medi-Cal benefits offered in the demonstration project.
(6) Before assigning a beneficiary in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan pursuant to Section 14182.16, the department shall determine whether the beneficiary is already a member of the AHCSP. If so, the beneficiary shall be assigned to a Medi-Cal managed care health plan operated by a health authority or commission contracting with the department and subcontracting with the AHCSP.
(h) Notwithstanding subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 34 of Chapter 37 of the Statutes of 2013, this section shall not be made inoperative as a result of any determination made by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 34 of Chapter 37 of the Statutes of 2013.
(i) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, this section shall remain operative only through December 31, 2022.
(2) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2025, and as of that date is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 143, Sec. 391. (AB 133) Effective July 27, 2021. Inoperative January 1, 2023, pursuant to subdivision (i). Repealed as of January 1, 2025, by its own provisions.)