(a) Charges shall be made for services rendered to each person under a county contract in accordance with this section. Charges for the care and treatment of each client receiving service under a county contract shall not exceed the actual cost thereof as determined by the director in accordance with standard accounting practices. The fee requirement shall not apply to prevention and early intervention services. The director is not prohibited from including the amount of expenditures for capital outlay or the interest thereon, or both, in his or her determination of actual cost. The responsibility of a client, his or her estate, or his or her responsible relatives to pay the charges shall be determined in accordance with this section.
(b) Each county shall determine the liability of clients rendered services under a county contract, and of their estates or responsible relatives, to pay the charges according to ability to pay. Each county shall collect the charges. The county shall establish and maintain policies and procedures for making the determinations of liability and collections, by collecting third-party payments and from other sources to the maximum extent practicable. The written criteria shall be a public record and shall be made available to the department or any individual. Fees collected shall be retained at the local level and be applied toward the purchase of additional drug services.
(c) Services shall not be denied because of a client’s ability or inability to pay. County-operated and contract providers of treatment services shall set and collect fees using methods approved by the county alcohol and drug program administrator. All approved fee systems shall conform to all of the following guidelines and criteria:
(1) The fee system used shall be equitable.
(2) The fee charged shall not exceed actual cost.
(3) Systems used shall consider the client’s income and expenses.
(4) Each provider fee system shall be approved by the county alcohol and drug program administrator. A description of each approved system shall be on file in the county board office.
(d) To ensure an audit trail, the county or provider, or both, shall maintain all of the following records:
(1) Fee assessment schedules and collection records.
(2) Documents in each client’s file showing client’s income and expenses, and how each was considered in determining fees.
(e) Each county shall furnish the director with a cost report of information the director shall require to enable the director to maintain a cost-reporting system of the costs of alcohol and other drug program services in the county funded in whole or in part by funds identified in the county contract with the department. The cost-reporting system established pursuant to this section shall supersede the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 16366.7 of the Government Code for a quarterly fiscal reporting system. An annual cost report, for the fiscal year ending June 30, shall be submitted to the department by November 1.
(f) The Legislature recognizes that alcohol and other drug programs may provide a variety of services described in this part, which services will vary depending on the needs of the communities that the programs serve. In devising a system to ensure that a county has expended its funds pursuant to an approved county contract, including the budget portions of the contract, the department shall take into account the flexibility that a county has in the provision of services and the changing nature of alcohol and other drug programs in responding to the community’s needs.
(g) The department shall maintain a reporting system to ensure that counties have budgeted and expended their funds pursuant to their approved contracts.
(h) (1) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific the amendments to this section made by the act that added this subdivision by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions from the department until regulations are adopted pursuant to that chapter of the Government Code.
(2) The department shall adopt emergency regulations no later than July 1, 2014. The department may subsequently readopt any emergency regulation authorized by this section that is the same as or is substantially equivalent to an emergency regulation previously adopted pursuant to this section.
(3) The initial adoption of emergency regulations implementing the amendments to this section and the one readoption of emergency regulations authorized by this subdivision shall be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare. Initial emergency regulations and the one readoption of emergency regulations authorized by this section shall be exempt from review by the Office of Administrative Law. The initial emergency regulations and the one readoption of emergency regulations authorized by this section shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and each shall remain in effect for no more than 180 days, by which time final regulations may be adopted.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 36, Sec. 60. (SB 1014) Effective June 27, 2012. Operative July 1, 2012, by Sec. 83 of Ch. 36.)