California Health and Safety Code

§ 1797.98e

HSC § 1797.98e Effective Jan 1, 2009Div. 2.5 · Ch. 2.5

Statute text

(a)It is the intent of the Legislature that a simplified, cost-efficient system of administration of this chapter be developed so that the maximum amount of funds may be utilized to reimburse physicians and surgeons and for other emergency medical services purposes. The administering agency shall select an administering officer and shall establish procedures and time schedules for the submission and processing of proposed reimbursement requests submitted by physicians and surgeons. The schedule shall provide for disbursements of moneys in the Emergency Medical Services Fund on at least a quarterly basis to applicants who have submitted accurate and complete data for payment. When the administering agency determines that claims for payment for physician and surgeon services are of sufficient numbers and amounts that, if paid, the claims would exceed the total amount of funds available for payment, the administering agency shall fairly prorate, without preference, payments to each claimant at a level less than the maximum payment level. Each administering agency may encumber sufficient funds during one fiscal year to reimburse claimants for losses incurred during that fiscal year for which claims will not be received until after the fiscal year. The administering agency may, as necessary, request records and documentation to support the amounts of reimbursement requested by physicians and surgeons and the administering agency may review and audit the records for accuracy. Reimbursements requested and reimbursements made that are not supported by records may be denied to, and recouped from, physicians and surgeons. Physicians and surgeons found to submit requests for reimbursement that are inaccurate or unsupported by records may be excluded from submitting future requests for reimbursement. The administering officer shall not give preferential treatment to any facility, physician and surgeon, or category of physician and surgeon and shall not engage in practices that constitute a conflict of interest by favoring a facility or physician and surgeon with which the administering officer has an operational or financial relationship. A hospital administrator of a hospital owned or operated by a county of a population of 250,000 or more as of January 1, 1991, or a person under the direct supervision of that person, shall not be the administering officer. The board of supervisors of a county or any other county agency may serve as the administering officer. The administering officer shall solicit input from physicians and surgeons and hospitals to review payment distribution methodologies to ensure fair and timely payments. This requirement may be fulfilled through the establishment of an advisory committee with representatives comprised of local physicians and surgeons and hospital administrators. In order to reduce the county’s administrative burden, the administering officer may instead request an existing board, commission, or local medical society, or physicians and surgeons and hospital administrators, representative of the local community, to provide input and make recommendations on payment distribution methodologies.

(b)Each provider of health services that receives payment under this chapter shall keep and maintain records of the services rendered, the person to whom rendered, the date, and any additional information the administering agency may, by regulation, require, for a period of three years from the date the service was provided. The administering agency shall not require any additional information from a physician and surgeon providing emergency medical services that is not available in the patient record maintained by the entity listed in subdivision (f) where the emergency medical services are provided, nor shall the administering agency require a physician and surgeon to make eligibility determinations.

(c)During normal working hours, the administering agency may make any inspection and examination of a hospital’s or physician and surgeon’s books and records needed to carry out this chapter. A provider who has knowingly submitted a false request for reimbursement shall be guilty of civil fraud.

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 288, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2009.