It is the intent of the Legislature to test an alternative payment methodology for FQHCs, as permitted by federal law, and to design and implement the APM to do all of the following:
(a) Provide patient-centered care delivery options to California’s expansive Medi-Cal population.
(b) Promote cost efficiencies, and improve population health and patient satisfaction.
(c) Improve the capacity of FQHCs to deliver high-quality care to a population growing in numbers and in complexity of needs.
(d) Transition away from a payment system that rewards volume with a flexible alternative that recognizes the value added when Medi-Cal beneficiaries are able to more easily access the care they need and when providers are able to deliver care in the most appropriate manner to patients.
(e) Track alternative encounters at FQHCs in order to establish a data set from which alternative encounters may be assigned a value that can be used in future ratesetting.
(f) Implement the APM where the FQHC receives at least the same amount of funding it would receive under the current payment system, and in a manner that does not disrupt patient care or threaten FQHC viability.
(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 760, Sec. 1. (SB 147) Effective January 1, 2016.)