14126.024. (Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 21, Sec. 99.)

(a) For managed care rating periods that begin between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2025, inclusive, the department, in consultation with representatives from the long-term care industry, organized labor, consumer advocates, and Medi-Cal managed care plans, shall establish and implement the Workforce and Quality Incentive Program under which a network provider furnishing skilled nursing facility services to a Medi-Cal managed care enrollee may earn performance-based directed payments from the Medi-Cal managed care plan they contract with in accordance with this section.

(b) Subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, the department shall do all of the following:

(1) Set the amount of performance-based directed payments to target an aggregate amount of two hundred eighty million dollars ($280,000,000) for the 2023 calendar year.

(2) For the 2024 through 2025 calendar years, the department shall set the amount of the performance-based directed payments to target the previous calendar year’s target plus the annual increase specified by clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) of paragraphs (18), (19), and (20) of subdivision (c) of Section 14126.033.

(3) No sooner than December 31, 2023, the department shall make a one-time increase to the performance-based directed payment target amount by the amounts described in subdivision (f) of Section 14126.032. This one-time increase shall not be factored into the amount calculated for a subsequent calendar year pursuant to paragraph (2).

(c) The department, in consultation with stakeholders listed in subdivision (a), shall establish the methodology or methodologies, parameters, and eligibility criteria for the directed payments pursuant to this section. This shall include, but is not limited to, the milestones and metrics that network providers of skilled nursing facility services must meet in order to receive a directed payment from a Medi-Cal managed care plan pursuant to this section, with at least two of these milestones and metrics tied to workforce measures. Subject to subdivision (j), the department may implement the directed payment described in this section using one or more of the models authorized at Section 438.6(c)(1)(i)-(iii), inclusive, of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(d) A freestanding pediatric subacute care facility, as defined in Section 51215.8 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, shall be exempt from the directed payments described in this section.

(e) Notwithstanding any other law, special program services for the mentally disordered that are entitled to receive the supplemental payment under Section 51511.1 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations shall be exempt from the directed payments described in this section.

(f) Directed payments made pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any other payments made by the a Medi-Cal managed care plan to applicable network providers of skilled nursing facility services and shall not supplant amounts that would otherwise be payable by a Medi-Cal managed care plan to a provider of skilled nursing facility services, including those payments made in accordance with paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 14184.201.

(g) For managed care rating periods during which this section is implemented, capitation rates paid by the department to a Medi-Cal managed care plan shall be actuarially sound and shall account for the directed payments described in this section.

(h) The department may require Medi-Cal managed care plans and network providers of skilled nursing facility services to submit information the department deems necessary to implement this section, at the times and in the form and manner specified by the department.

(j) In implementing this section, the department may contract, as necessary, with California’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, or other entities deemed qualified by the department, not associated with a skilled nursing facility, to assist with development, collection, analysis, and reporting of the performance data pursuant to this section. The department may enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts, on a bid or negotiated basis for purposes of implementing this subdivision. Contracts entered into or amended pursuant to this subdivision shall be exempt from Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, and State Administrative Manual, and the State Contracting Manual, and shall be exempt from the review or approval of any division of the State Department of General Services.

(k) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that any necessary federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is available and is not otherwise jeopardized.

(l) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Medi-Cal managed care plan” has the same meaning as set forth in subdivision (j) of Section 14184.101.

(2) “Network provider” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 438.2 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(3) “Skilled nursing facility” has the same meaning as set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, excluding a nursing facility that is a distinct part of a facility that is licensed as a general acute care hospital as described in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code.

(m) (1) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2026. The department may conduct all necessary closeout activities applicable to any managed care rating period before January 1, 2026.

(2) This section shall be repealed on January 1, 2027, or on the date that the director certifies to the Secretary of State that all necessary closeout activities have been completed pursuant to paragraph (1), whichever is later.