Announcing. The California Medical Association accepted CPAs offer to co-sponsorAB 1268(Rodriguez) which is the first step in a multi-year campaign to reduce unnecessary utilization management in managed care, particularly with respect to prior authorization. We have a hearing up next week in the Assembly. AB 1268, is in two parts. It will ask that the state collect data on prospective reviews conducted that “approved, delayed, modified or denied” a service to quantify the scope of prior authorizations. Plans will then be asked to review their criteria in light of the data. And, regulators as well as the CPA and CMA will be watching. And, that’s only the first step.
Another win. Youth Substance Use Treatment passed its first hurdle as CPA sponsored AB 1031(Nazarian) passed out of Assembly Health Committee 15-0 on Tuesday, April 2. Shout out to CPA immediate past-President William Arroyo, MD, who as a child psychiatrist treating youth in juvenile justice settings laid out the case for AB 1031 in his testimony – which includes the most salient point that entrenched adult substance users typically start as adolescents and sometimes as young as 11 or 12 years old. Providing early intervention is of course the key. This AB 1031 would do.