(a) The State Department of Health Care Services shall seek federal approval, to the extent it deems necessary, to expand the Medi-Cal benefit for adult Alcohol Misuse Screening and Behavioral Counseling Interventions in Primary Care to include screening for misuse of opioids and other illicit drugs, in order to strengthen linkages and referral pathways between primary care and specialty substance use disorder treatment. This section shall be implemented only to the extent that any necessary federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is available.
(b) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the State Department of Health Care Services may implement, interpret, or make specific this section by means of plan or county letters, information notices, plan or provider bulletins, or other similar instructions, without taking regulatory action.
(c) This section shall be suspended on December 31, 2021. If the estimates of General Fund revenues and expenditures determined pursuant to Section 12.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution that accompany the May Revision required to be released by May 14, 2021, pursuant to Section 13308 of the Government Code, contain projected annual General Fund revenues that exceed projected annual General Fund expenditures in the 2021–22 fiscal year and the 2022–23 fiscal year by the sum total of General Fund appropriated for all programs suspended pursuant to the Budget Act of 2019 and all related trailer bill legislation implementing the provisions of the Budget Act of 2019, then the suspension shall not take effect. It is the intent of the Legislature to consider alternative solutions to restore this program, should the suspension take effect.
(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 38, Sec. 46. (SB 78) Effective June 27, 2019.)