Today, the California Medical Association (CMA) filed a request for an en banc review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the State of California from implementing a 10 percent cut to Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rates. Last month, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that the state could move forward with the rate cuts, passed by the Legislature in the spring of 2011, despite an earlier district court ruling that found that the cuts would irreparably harm the millions of patients who rely on Medi-Cal for health care.CMA and the other plaintiffs in the case are requesting a rehearing from the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Following the reversal, Governor Jerry Brown issued his 2013-2014 budget proposal, which includes a 10 percent Medi-Cal reimbursement cut, retroactive to January 1, 2013.
CMA and the other plaintiffs in CMA et al. v. Douglas et al. – California Hospital Association, California Dental Association, California Pharmacists Association , National Association of Chain Drug Stores, California Association of Medical Product Suppliers, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and American Medical Response – argue that reducing payments in the Medi-Cal system will force providers out of the program at a time when millions of new patients will be diverted into the Medi-Cal system.
If the state moves forward with these cuts, access to care will be devastated, not only for the existing Medi-Cal patients, but also the 900,000 kids moving from the Healthy Families program into Medi-Cal in 2013 and the millions of patients that will be newly eligible for Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
“Cutting payment to Medi-Cal providers by 10 percent will have a huge impact on patient access to care,” said Paul R. Phinney, M.D., CMA president. “The state is in much better fiscal shape now than when these cuts were initially proposed in 2011 and with millions of new Medi-Cal patients entering the program under the Affordable Care Act, we simply cannot continue to cut resources and expect successful implementation of health reform in California.”
The lawsuit to prevent the cuts was originally filed by CMA in November 2011.