(a) Within 90 days of the effective date of the act that added this section, the department shall amend its contract with the external quality review organization (EQRO) currently under contract with the department and approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to complete an access assessment. This one-time assessment is intended to do all of the following:

(1) Evaluate primary, core specialty, and facility access to care for managed care beneficiaries based on the current health plan network adequacy requirements set forth in 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) and Medicaid managed care contracts, as applicable.

(2) Consider State Fair Hearing and Independent Medical Review (IMR) decisions, and grievances and appeals or complaints data.

(3) Report on the number of providers accepting new beneficiaries.

(b) The department shall submit to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for approval the access assessment design no later than 180 days after approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the EQRO contract amendment.

(c) The department shall establish an advisory committee that will provide input into the structure of the access assessment. The EQRO shall work with the department to establish the advisory committee, which will provide input into the assessment structure, including network adequacy requirements and metrics, that should be considered.

(d) The advisory committee shall include one or more representatives of each of the following stakeholders to ensure diverse and robust input into the assessment structure and feedback on the initial draft access assessment report:

(1) Consumer advocacy organizations.

(2) Provider associations.

(3) Health plans and health plan associations.

(4) Legislative staff.

(e) The advisory committee shall do all of the following:

(1) Begin to convene within 60 days of approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the EQRO contract amendment.

(2) Participate in a minimum of two meetings, including an entrance and exit event, with all events and meetings open to the public.

(3) Provide all of the following:

(A) Feedback on the access assessment structure.

(B) An initial draft access assessment report.

(C) Recommendations that shall be made available on the department’s Internet Web site.

(f) The EQRO shall produce and publish an initial draft and a final access assessment report that includes a comparison of health plan network adequacy compliance across different lines of business. The report shall include recommendations in response to any systemic network adequacy issues, if identified. The initial draft and final report shall describe the state’s current compliance with the access and network adequacy standards set forth in the Medicaid Managed Care proposed rule (80 FR 31097) or the finalized Part 438 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, if published before submission of the assessment design to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

(g) The access assessment shall do all of the following:

(1) Measure health plan compliance with network adequacy requirements as set forth in 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) and Medicaid managed care contracts, as applicable. The assessment shall consider State Fair Hearing and IMR decisions, and grievances and appeals or complaints data, and any other factors as selected with input from the advisory committee.

(2) Review encounter data, including a review of data from subcapitated plans.

(3) Measure health plan compliance with timely access requirements, as set forth in 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) and Medicaid managed care contracts using a sample of provider-level data on the soonest appointment availability.

(4) Review compliance with network adequacy requirements for managed care plans, and other lines of business for primary and core specialty care areas and facility access, as set forth in 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) and Medicaid managed care contracts, as applicable, across the entire health plan network.

(5) Applicable network adequacy requirements of the proposed or final Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, as determined under the approved access assessment design, that are not already required 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) shall be reviewed and reported on against a metric range as identified by the department and approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the access assessment design.

(6) Determine health plan compliance with network adequacy through reviewing information or data from a one-year period using validated network data and utilize it for the time period following conclusion of the preassessment stakeholder process but no sooner than the second half of the 2016 calendar year in order to ensure use of the highest quality data source available.

(7) Measure managed care plan compliance with network adequacy requirements within the department and managed care plan contract service areas using 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) and network adequacy standards within Medicaid managed care contracts, accounting for each of the following:

(A) Geographic differences, including provider shortages at the local, state, and national levels, as applicable.

(B) Previously approved alternate network access standards, as provided for 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) and Medicaid managed care contracts.

(C) Access to in-network providers and out-of-network providers separately, presented and evaluated separately, when determining overall access to care.

(D) The entire network of providers available to beneficiaries at the state contractor plan level.

(E) Other modalities used for accessing care, including telemedicine.

(h) The department shall post the initial draft report for a 30-day public comment period after it has incorporated the feedback from the advisory committee. The initial draft report shall be posted for public comment no later than 10 months after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approves the assessment design.

(i) The department shall also make publicly available the feedback from the advisory committee at the same time it posts the initial draft of the report.

(j) The department shall submit the final access assessment report to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services no later than 90 days after the initial draft report is posted for public comment.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 561, Sec. 288. (AB 1516) Effective January 1, 2018.)