DHCS/MediCal News

The following information has been received by ANCO.


****DHCS/MediCal NEWS****
The following notice has been posted to the home page of the Medi-Cal Web site NewsRoom as of February 2, 2009:

As requested by the State Controller’s Office (SCO), the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has begun preparations to implement a four-week payment hold of General Fund payments to providers whose timely payments are not required by the State constitution, federal mandate or court decision. In a press release posted on the SCO website, the State Controller indicated that unless a budgetary solution was implemented by February 1, 2009, to address the state’s cash crisis, that he must begin holding certain program payments.

Effective February 5, 2009 (the first warrant release date of February), the weekly provider checkwrite for these programs will be delayed by the SCO for four weeks and released one week at a time until a solution is found to the cash crisis. The affected State Only and Other Public Health programs that SCO will be impacting are:

State Only California Children’s Services (CCS)

State Only Genetically Handicapped Persons Program (GHPP)

State Only (and General Fund only) Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) Program

Children’s Treatment Program (CTP)

Expanded Access to Primary Care (EAPC)

Cancer Detection Program: Every Woman Counts (CDP: EWC)

The Medi-Cal (includes CCS Medi-Cal and CHDP Medi-Cal), Healthy Families, and Abortion check writes will continue to be paid as normal.

The SCO has said that the four-week checkwrite payment hold will remain in place until such time as the State’s cash deficit is rectified. As directed, the State will then resume issuance of warrants on a weekly basis. Providers are encouraged to continue to review the Medi-Cal Web site for the most current information and details.