August 18, 2016
California’s SMAA Manual Submitted to CMS for Approval
On Monday, August 15, California's Department of Health Care Services submitted the draft School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (SMAA) Program Manual to federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for approval.
DHCS Chief of the Medi-Cal Administrative Claiming Section, Michelle Kristoff, announced the forthcoming Manual submission in an email to stakeholders on August...
August 15, 2016
LEA Ad-Hoc Advisory Workgroup Publishes June 2016 Meeting Minutes
The LEA Ad-Hoc Advisory Workgroup, comprised of LEA representatives, DHCS, and the California Department of Education (CDE), held their regularly scheduled meeting to make recommendations and discuss issues impacting the LEA Medi-Cal Billing Option Program.
Highlights from the June 1, 2016 meeting include:
Review of Senate Bill 123, which would have a limited impact on the LEA Medi-Cal...
July 21, 2016
OIG Publishes Report on Alabama’s School-Based MAC Program
The federal Office of Inspector General (OIG), an agency charged with reviewing more than 100 Health and Human Services programs, has published a report on Alabama's School-Based Medicaid Administrative Claiming program.
OIG is recommending that Alabama return all federal reimbursements received for the 2010-2012 fiscal years, $75.3 million, predominantly because the state did not have an...
July 15, 2016
RMTS for LEA Billing — Implementation Advisory Group Publishes May Meeting Summaries
The Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) has published minutes from their meetings on May 4th and May 31st, including the following updates:
The IAG is actively seeking stakeholder feedback regarding a technical software “wish list." This list includes reports and functionality that would be beneficial for users in three major categories: Time Survey Participant (TSP) Management, RMTS...
July 11, 2016
UPDATED: SB-123 Advances with Changes
**Update as of July 11, 2016**
Since this posting was originally published, Senator Liu's office has released an updated Fact Sheet and Q&A document regarding SB 123. These documents include helpful information about the intention and proposed execution of the bill that may be helpful to those considering whether to support passage of the bill.
These new documents also correct an error...
June 22, 2016
Senate Bill 123 Passes Assembly Health Committee with Substantial Changes
Senate Bill (SB) 123, a proposal that would make large-scale changes to California's School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (SMAA) program, passed out of the Assembly Health Committee on June 14, 2016.
The bill was amended with the following substantial changes:
DHCS will not be required to contract directly with LEAs for their participation in the program as originally...
June 13, 2016
Deadline Extended for California’s First RMTS Claims
In an announcement on their website, California's Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) officially extended the deadline for the first School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (SMAA) program claims using the Random Moment Time Survey (RMTS).
The deadline for fiscal year 2014-15 Q3 (Jan-March 2015) has been extended to September 30, 2016. Unfortunately, the template for completing...
May 27, 2016
Legislation Proposes Big Changes to SMAA Contract Structure and RMTS Program
Senate Bill 123 (Liu-D) has been amended to include several proposed changes for California's School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (SMAA) program.
First introduced in January 2015, SB 123 was written to legislate recommendations that the California State Auditor made during their audit of DHCS' administration of the SMAA program and deferral that was performed last year.
...
May 9, 2016
School Districts Wait for Vital SMAA Program Information
School districts participating in California's School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (SMAA) Program, a federal reimbursement program that provides valuable funds that are reinvested back into the state and school district, continue to wait for information that may be central to their continued participation in the program.
Specifically, California schools are anxiously waiting for...
April 15, 2016
RMTS for LEA Billing – Implementation Advisory Group Publishes April Meeting Summary
The Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) provided the following updates from their April 5, 2016, meeting:
DHCS discussed stakeholder feedback regarding an inquiry as to whether RMTS coders would need to determine whether direct health service moments coded to Code 2 were actually billed with proper supporting documentation by a qualified Medi-Cal provider.
Belief is that the coder will be...