(a) Bills for service under this chapter shall be submitted not more than six months after the month in which the service is rendered, and shall be in the form prescribed by the director, except that in the event the patient does not identify himself or herself to the provider as a Medi-Cal beneficiary within four months after the month in which the service was rendered, the provider shall be entitled to submit his or her statement at any time within 60 days after that date certified by the provider as the date the patient was first identified as a Medi-Cal beneficiary. However, the date certified by the provider as the date the patient was first so identified shall not be later than one year after the month in which the service was rendered. Whenever a provider has submitted a claim to a liable third party, the provider shall have one year after the month in which the service is rendered for submission of the bill. Whenever a legal proceeding has been commenced with either an administrative or judicial tribunal concerning a bill for which the provider is attempting to obtain payment from a liable third party, the provider shall have one year in which to submit the bill after the month in which the services have been rendered. A copy of the pleadings shall be conclusively presumed to be sufficient evidence of commencement of a legal proceeding.

(b) The director may, where he or she finds that delay in the submission of bills was caused by circumstances beyond the control of the provider, extend the period for submission of bills for a period not to exceed one year.

(c) (1) Reimbursement for an original claim, submitted for payment between 6 and 12 months after the month of service, that does not meet any of the exceptions allowing billing after six months as specified in subdivisions (a) and (b), or the exception specified in subdivision (f), shall be reduced as follows:

(A) The amount otherwise payable by Medi-Cal shall be reduced by 25 percent for claims submitted during the seventh through the ninth month after the month of service.

(B) The amount otherwise payable by Medi-Cal shall be reduced by 50 percent for claims submitted during the 10th through the 12th month after the month of service.

(2) The director may establish exceptions through regulations, for claims submitted beyond the one-year billing limitation, to the extent full federal participation is available.

(3) The reductions specified in paragraph (1) shall not apply to a Medi-Cal program for which there is no state General Fund match, including, but not limited to, the Local Educational Agency (LEA) Medi-Cal Billing Option program and the Targeted Case Management (TCM) program.

(d) For the purposes of this section, identification of a patient as a Medi-Cal beneficiary shall mean presentation to the provider of the patient’s Medi-Cal card.

(e) No further followup shall be required, after the provider receives acknowledgment of a claim inquiry from the fiscal intermediary, until the claim is paid or denied, except that this period shall not exceed one year from the date of acknowledgment. Within one year from the date of acknowledgment the next level of appeal shall be utilized by the provider.

(f) To the extent permitted by federal law, when a state of emergency has been declared by either the President of the United States or the Governor, the director, in order to ensure continued access to health care services, may remit payment for services without the submission of required documentation, to any provider in good standing under the Medi-Cal program who, due to destruction, loss, or inaccessibility of data as a result of the emergency situation, is unable to submit claims. Emergency payments may be made for a period of up to six months from the date of the emergency declaration. All requests for emergency payment shall include adequate justification for payment, as required by the director, and shall be paid based on the previous claims history of the requesting provider held by the department.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 130, Sec. 248. Effective January 1, 2008.)