Key CMA Victory - DHCS Now Paying Medi-Cal Claims at Full Rate
[Posted 09/15/08]

On September 5, the California Department of Health Care Services restored the 10 percent Medi-Cal reimbursement cut and began paying Medi-Cal physicians the full rate for all claims. DHCS will also reprocess all claims for services provided after August 18 that were previously paid with the 10 percent reduction.

As previously reported in CMA Alert, a federal court on August 18 ordered the State of California to reverse the 10 percent Medi-Cal reimbursement cut that took effect on July 1, finding that the cuts would irreparably harm access to health care for nearly 7 million Californians.

Unfortunately, the federal court judge ruled that the injunction is not retroactive to Medi-Cal services provided between July 1 and August 18, a decision CMA will attempt to reverse.

This is an enormous victory for Medi-Cal patients and the physicians who care for them. CMA’s legal efforts will result in slightly more than $100 million going to physicians for providing health care to the poor than would have absent CMA’s efforts.

The state has appealed the ruling and a hearing to consider the appeal is scheduled for today, September 15.

Contact: Francisco Silva, 916/444-5532 or fsilva@cmanet.org.