14166.221. (Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 218, Sec. 3.)

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature for the department to maximize the receipt of federal funds for California’s Medi-Cal program, including this demonstration project, by identifying state resources which will enable the state to obtain additional federal reimbursement during this unprecedented fiscal crisis. It is further the intent of the Legislature that any program identified by the department for the purposes specified in this section shall not be modified or altered in any manner unless subsequent statutory authority is expressly provided by the Legislature.

(b) Notwithstanding Section 14166.22, in order to maximize federal claiming under the demonstration project, the department shall have broad discretion to claim federal reimbursement consistent with all applicable federal claiming rules for the following expenditures in an order of priority determined by the department:

(1) Expenditures in programs funded in whole or in part by realignment funds under Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 17600) of Part 5, including, but not limited to, the County Medical Services Program.

(2) Expenditures in programs funded in whole or in part by the County Mental Health Services Act.

(3) Other public expenditures, to the extent the department determines the expenditures to be appropriate for claiming under the demonstration project.

(4) Expenditures in any programs referenced in subdivision (a) of Section 14166.22 or other state-only funded programs as the department, in its discretion, determines should be used for the purposes of this section. These programs may include programs administered by other state agencies or departments.

(d) Any amounts received in the 2008–09, 2009–10, and 2010–11 fiscal years from the federal government pursuant to additional demonstration project funding as specified in this section shall be deposited in the Federal Trust Fund. Notwithstanding Section 28.00 of the Budget Act of 2009, the Department of Finance may authorize expenditure of these funds in a manner consistent with federal law and that offsets General Fund expenditures otherwise authorized in the Budget Act of 2009 for the Medi-Cal program, and as appropriated in Item 4260-101-0001, or for the Health Care Support Fund. For any adjustments made under the authority provided for by this section, the Department of Finance shall provide notification in writing to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee not less than 30 days prior to the effective date of the adjustment, or not sooner than whatever lesser time the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, or his or her designee, may in each instance determine. The notification to the chairperson of the joint committee shall include, at a minimum, the amounts of the proposed appropriation adjustments, a description of any assumptions used in making the adjustments, the relevant federal authority, and any other clarifying description as relevant.

(e) If the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or any federal or state court issues a ruling that any or all federal dollars obtained by claiming for expenditures from any particular program referenced in subdivision (b) cannot be used to increase state revenues, the department may discontinue use of those expenditures for claiming under this section and substitute other expenditures from other programs referenced in subdivision (b) at its discretion.

(f) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may implement this section by means of a provider bulletin, or other similar instruction, without taking regulatory action. The department shall also provide notification to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee within five working days if that action is taken in order to inform the Legislature that the action is being implemented.

(g) (1) A portion of the additional federal funding described in subdivision (c) shall be allocated to the designated public hospitals and shall be identical in amount to the fee proceeds retained by the state under Section 14167.5.

(2) Funding under this subdivision shall be made available to the designated public hospitals in increments that reflect the quarters of the subject federal fiscal year for which payments are made to private hospitals from the Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund established pursuant to Section 14167.35.

(3) The department shall claim the federal funds made available to the designated public hospitals under this subdivision upon receipt of the necessary expenditure reports and certifications from the designated public hospitals, or the governmental entities with which they are affiliated, and distribute those funds pursuant to Section 14167.5 so that receipt of the federal funds by the designated public hospitals is aligned with the payment schedule set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 14167.9.

(h) The department shall implement subdivision (g) of this section and subdivision (e) of Section 14167.5 only if and to the extent that all of the following are satisfied:

(1) The state has determined, after consultation with the designated public hospitals, that the designated public hospitals, or the governmental entities with which they are affiliated, have incurred sufficient expenditures during the 2009 and 2010 project years, or that portion of the 2011 project year to the extent federal funds are available under Section 15900 or under an extension of the demonstration project, so that each designated public hospital receives the total amount, taking into account grant funds under Section 14167.5 and payments under this section, that it would have received for each installment under subdivision (c) of Section 14167.9 had subdivision (e) of Section 14167.5 not been implemented.

(2) The implementation of subdivision (g) of this section and subdivision (e) of Section 14167.5 does not result in the receipt by any designated public hospital, or the governmental entity with which it is affiliated, of less than what would otherwise be paid to that hospital or entity pursuant to Part 3.5 (commencing with Section 15900), the sections referred to in Section 14166.35, or Article 5.21 (commencing with Section 14167.1).

(3) In determining the amount retained by the state under subdivision (e) of Section 14167.5 and made available to the designated public hospitals in subdivision (g), the department makes adjustments to the reported expenditures for possible audit disallowances, consistent with the type of adjustments applied in prior project years to reduce the likelihood of a federal recoupment.

(4) The department is satisfied that the expenditures claimed under paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) represent valid expenditures for the purposes of federal financial participation under the Special Terms and Conditions for the demonstration project based on federal law and guidance provided by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

(5) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the department has claimed federal reimbursement for the state-only expenditures in the programs referenced in subdivision (a) of Section 14166.22 and in the programs authorized by paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 14166.221, to the maximum extent authorized under the Special Terms and Conditions for the demonstration project.

(6) Federal financial participation is available and implementation of these provisions does not jeopardize the federal financial participation for other programs.