Stiff Medicaid payment cuts in California are set to move ahead after a federal appellate court rejected the California Medical Association's request for a full en banc reconsideration of its request to block the cuts.
Gov. Jerry Brown's budget, approved by lawmakers, has a Sept. 1 date for the implementation of payment reductions in Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program. But the California Department of Health Care Services announced Monday that the timeline is still under development in order to give physicians and other providers time to prepare.
In 2011, the state Legislature passed a 10% cut in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates that was later halted by an injunction issued in federal district court. The 9th Circuit threw out that injunction, meaning the drop in Medi-Cal payments—which is estimated to save the state almost half a billion dollars in the coming year—was back on.