(a) The California Health and Human Services Agency or successor entity or designated department shall submit an implementation plan to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature for implementation of the federally approved waiver or demonstration project. The implementation plan shall be developed in consultation with a stakeholder advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision (b). The implementation plan shall specifically address the multiple and complex needs of seniors and persons with disabilities, dual eligibles, children with special health care needs, and persons with behavioral health conditions, and the specific strategies the agency or successor entity or designated department will use to ensure the provision of quality, accessible health care services under the waiver or demonstration project, including, at a minimum, the following elements:

(1) Criteria, performance standards, and indicators shall be adopted to ensure that plan services meet the multiple and complex needs of beneficiaries and comply with the requirements of this article. The performance standards shall incorporate, at a minimum, existing statutory and regulatory requirements and protections applicable to two-plan model and geographic managed care plans, as well as those protections available under the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code), but in addition shall include specific requirements and standards based on the multiple and complex care needs of seniors and persons with disabilities, dual eligibles, children with special health care needs, and persons with behavioral health conditions, including, but not limited to, standards where applicable to the organized delivery system model in all of the following areas:

(A) Plan readiness.

(B) Availability and accessibility of services, including physical access and communication access.

(C) Benefit management and scope of services.

(D) Care coordination and care management.

(E) Beneficiary complaints, grievances, and appeals.

(F) Beneficiary participation.

(G) Continuity of care.

(H) Cultural and linguistic appropriateness.

(I) Financial management.

(J) Measurement and improvement of health outcomes.

(K) Marketing, assignment, enrollment, and disenrollment.

(L) Network capacity, including travel time and distance and specialty care access.

(M) Performance measurement and improvement.

(N) Provider grievances and appeals.

(O) Quality care.

(P) Recordkeeping and reporting.

(2) Strategies to be used to monitor performance of all contractors and to ensure compliance with all components of the waiver or demonstration project.

(3) Provision of a comprehensive timeline of key milestones for implementation of the waiver or demonstration project components.

(4) Provision of a framework for evaluation of the waiver or demonstration project, including the process, timelines, and criteria for evaluating implementation, as well as the method for providing periodic updates of outcomes and key implementation concerns.

(b) Prior to preparing the implementation plan required by this section, the agency or successor entity or designated department, shall convene a stakeholder committee to advise on preparation of the implementation plan. The stakeholder committee shall include, but not be limited to, persons with disabilities, seniors, and representatives of legal services agencies that serve clients in the affected populations, health plans, specialty care providers, physicians, hospitals, county government, labor, and others as deemed appropriate by the agency or successor entity or designated department. The stakeholder committee shall advise on the implementation of the waiver or demonstration project until the expiration of the waiver or demonstration project.

(Added by Stats. 2009, 4th Ex. Sess., Ch. 6, Sec. 2. Effective July 28, 2009.)