Official Summary Text
AB 2538, as amended, Macedo.
Gambling disorder prevention.
Medi-Cal: hospice providers: forms.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services through fee-for-service or managed care delivery systems. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions.
Existing law provides for the licensure of hospice agencies by the State Department of Public Health to provide hospice services to an individual who is experiencing the last phase of life due to a terminal illness, as defined. Under existing law, hospice services are covered under the Medi-Cal program,
subject to utilization controls and the availability of federal financial participation, as specified.
The State Department of Health Care Services administratively requires, effective March 2, 2026, a hospice provider to use a certain online attestation form to notify the department when a Medi-Cal fee-for-service member has elected to receive hospice services, as specified.
This bill would codify and recast those departmental procedures relating to the online form. The bill would require the hospice provider to submit the online form within 5 calendar days after the member’s election to receive hospice services, and to submit the form in conjunction with counseling, receipt of informed consent, and completion of a separate election notice form, as specified.
The bill would make these provisions applicable only to the Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system. In the case of Medi-Cal managed care, the bill would require a hospice provider to instead follow its assigned Medi-Cal managed care plan’s submission requirements, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Office of Problem Gambling in the State Department of Public Health and requires the office to develop a gambling disorder prevention program that includes, among other components, a toll-free telephone service for immediate crisis management, public awareness campaigns, and training of gambling industry personnel in identifying customers who are at risk for gambling disorders. Existing law also requires the office to develop a treatment program for those purposes, which may include, among other things, state-funded treatment services in the form of telephone counseling. Existing law requires the office to make information available regarding this program as requested by the Governor and the Legislature.
This bill would delete the authorization for telephone counseling treatment services and instead authorize
telehealth counseling. The bill would also require the office to make the information available if it is requested by a county health officer.