(a) The department may establish, for local initiative and for commercial plans, that are providing services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries under a two-plan model contract with the department, not more than two pilot programs for the establishment of reimbursement methodologies. The reimbursement methodologies shall not be limited to those provided in Section 14087.325. The pilot programs may be implemented by amendment to the contract between the department and the local initiative or commercial plan. The department may select the pilot program county or counties on a nonbid basis. The selected counties shall include one county with a sizable number of entities defined in Section 1396d(l)(2)(B) of Title 42 of the United States Code. The department shall review each pilot program annually. Following the review, and notwithstanding any determination made pursuant to subdivision (d), the department shall terminate a pilot program established under this section and shall delete amendments made to the contract implementing the pilot program if the department determines that the pilot program creates any additional cost to the General Fund. The department may also terminate a pilot program based upon criteria specified in the department’s contract establishing the pilot program. The department shall provide the local initiative and commercial plan with notice of the department’s decision to terminate the pilot program for this reason at least 90 days prior to the termination date of the pilot program and deletion of the contract amendments.

(b) Each local initiative and commercial plan participating in a pilot program under this section shall make available to the department any and all financial, membership, utilization, and other information reasonably required by the department to conduct the annual review described in subdivision (a). The information may include, but is not limited to, the financial or other records of participating providers. The amendment to the contract between the local initiative or commercial plan and the department establishing the pilot program shall specify a reasonable timeframe in which the commercial plan or local initiative shall furnish records to the department pursuant to the request of the department.

(c) In assessing whether the pilot program creates any additional cost to the General Fund, as described in subdivision (a), the department shall specifically consider all of the following factors, and may consider additional factors:

(1) Increases in the number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries assigned by the plan to cost-based primary care providers. To enable the department to evaluate these factors, the department may include in the contract amendments establishing the pilot program a requirement that contractors shall periodically report data regarding the number of plan members assigned to each cost-based primary care provider in the plan’s network.

(2) Expansions in the services provided by providers entitled to cost-based reimbursement under the Medi-Cal program.

(3) Medi-Cal caseload or plan membership growth.

(4) Inflation or other reasonable costs of provider operations.

(5) The necessity for a plan to assign plan members to specific primary care providers to meet all of the following requirements:

(A) Medi-Cal contract requirements for access to care.

(B) Unique Medi-Cal member cultural and linguistic needs.

(C) Unique member needs for age-appropriate, gender-appropriate, or pregnancy care requirements.

(d) The pilot program shall be deemed to be successful if the alternative reimbursement methodologies tested result in no additional cost to the General Fund as described in subdivision (c), and the local initiatives, commercial plans, and federally qualified health centers participating in the pilot program agree to accept full financial risk for the scope of services provided by the federally qualified health centers during the final year of the pilot program.

(Added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 649, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1998.)