CSAC is pleased to share that nearly all of the state’s COVID-19
guidance is now available in 13 languages on the state’s www.Covid19.ca.gov website. County
Supervisors from around the state strongly advocated for the
translation of critical COVID-19 state guidance, and the state
estimates that 85 percent of the documents are translated at this
time. The state’s goal is to have all COVID-19 guidance
translated by the end of this month.
This week, CSAC hosted the California Health and Human Services
(CHHS) Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, on the State’s efforts to
expand access to COVID-19 testing through their new PerkinElmer
contract. PerkinElmer, a major diagnostics company, will be
contractually obligated to add up to 150,000 new laboratory
COVID-19 tests per day. During the briefing Secretary Ghaly
reported the impetus behind this contract was to eliminate supply
chain competition with other states across the country.
This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
announced they would not move forward with their proposed
Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule (MFAR). The federal rule,
announced at the end of 2019, was intended to increase Medicaid
fiscal transparency but attracted a host of responses from state
and local governments voicing concerns, including the state of
California and CSAC.
On Tuesday, the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Master
Plan for Aging met and submitted their final recommendations to
the Governor’s Administration for consideration in the state’s
Master Plan for Aging. While the COVID-19 pandemic caused some
delays in the Master Plan timeline and forced meetings to be
conducted remotely, progress on this important initiative
continued and the Governor is anticipated to release the state’s
Master Plan for Aging in December.
The California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems
(CAPH) and the California Health Care Safety New Institute (SNI),
published an
article highlighting the critical role county Whole Person
Care (WPC) pilot programs have had in the COVID-19 response.
CSAC’s Health and Human Services policy committee tracked a
number of bills this legislative cycle. All of the following
bills passed both houses and are awaiting action from the
Governor.
Oppose
AB 1976 (Eggman): Mental Health Services: Assisted Outpatient
Treatment.
The California Department of Public Health released new
guidance allowing necessary in-person child supervision
and limited instruction, targeted support services, and
facilitation of distance learning in “pods” of up to 14 children
and two adults in all schools. The guidance also provides
instruction on returning to work or school following a COVID-19
diagnosis and additional child care guidance.
The Governor’s January budget and May Revision proposed a new
Vaping Tax on top of existing tobacco taxes. There were
adjustments to where the funding from the new tax would be
allocated from the January budget to the May Revision. The
agreement between the Administration and Legislature delayed the
development and implementation of the Governor’s proposed vaping
tax.
Governor Newsom declined to elaborate today on the resignation of
the state’s leading public health official, Dr. Sonia Angell. Dr.
Angell submitted her resignation Sunday night, nearly two weeks
after the state first revealed a major technical glitch affecting
positive COVID-19 case data.
The Governor insisted that the backlog of data in the state’s
CalREDIE laboratory reporting system had been processed over the
weekend and sent to counties for validation and demographic
details before being publicly available within the week.
On the heels of Governor Newsom’s
recent statement that the state’s positive case rate
was declining slightly, the California Department of Public
Health (CDPH) announced
this week that the state data is likely underreported due to
a serious technological glitch.
Governor Newsom announced a moratorium on in-person schooling in
mid-July for all schools located within a county that has been on
the state’s Targeted Engagement active monitoring list for at
least 14 days.
The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) was enacted by voters with
the passage of Proposition 63 in November 2004 with the goal of
providing flexible funding to improve California’s public mental
health system. Since the enactment California’s county
administered mental health plans have used the funding to
implement and expand a range of community-based programs and
services. Since the enactment of the MHSA, state, local and key
stakeholders have identified mental health as a
statewide priority.
The Bureau of State Audits released its audit
of county implementation of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS
Act) for involuntary mental health treatment this week, finding
that while counties implement the Act properly, a lack of
treatment options, care coordination, access to data, and funding
transparency hampers positive outcomes for those who are
frequently held or conserved involuntarily.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced their
request for a 12-month extension to the current Section 1115(a)
Medicaid Waiver and the 1915(b) Specialty Mental Health Services
Waiver.
Late last week, President Trump
announced the signing of four Executive Orders to lower
prescription drug prices for patients. The high cost of
life-saving prescription drugs, like insulin, has been considered
a crisis by many patients, physicians and lawmakers.
Governor Newsom modified guidance this week to allow for personal
care services in outdoor settings upon approval by the local
health officer. In counties on the state Monitoring List,
services including hair styling, barbering, facials, manicure and
pedicures, and massage may operate outside within certain
parameters set by the state. All services must be rendered
outdoors, and operators may utilize a tent or canopy as long as
no more than one side is closed to allow for sufficient air
movement.
Governor Gavin Newsom turned to the “dimmer switch” today and has
asked
19* counties (see below for list) to close all bars and cease
all indoor activities at restaurants, wineries, and family
entertainment spaces for at least three weeks. These
counties have the option to impose local orders, or the state
will issue county-specific orders.
This week, the ACEs Aware Initiative launched their monthly
newsletter. The goal of the newsletter is to provide
up-to-date information on the progress of the ACEs Aware
Initiative in California and how providers are utilizing ACEs
screening and results on a daily basis.
The Governor’s office recently
announced the appointment of Will Lightbourne to serve as
Director of the California Department of Health Care Services
(DHCS).
Earlier this week, the Assembly Health Committee and the Aging &
Long-Term Care Committee convened a joint oversight hearing to
discuss the COVID-19 outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities
(SNFs) and gather information about the state’s response.
The hearing focused on issues within SNFs that aided in the
spread of COVID-19 throughout the facilities, how the state and
SNF leadership have responded to those issues, and plans to
ensure the health and safety of SNF staff and patients in these
facilities moving forward.
Earlier this week, the California Department of Finance
submitted a letter to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee
indicating plans to provide a $5 million augmentation for food
banks from the emergency coronavirus funding bill the Legislature
passed in March.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) has begun accepting applications for COVID-19 Emergency
Response Suicide Prevention (COVID-19 ERSP) grants. Last week
SAMHSA announced the shortened turnaround due to the critical
need. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 22,
2020.
This week the Legislature began holding public hearings to review
the Governor’s May Revision Budget. With the condensed
Legislative timelines, the Budget Subcommittees are doing their
best to fully examine the proposed investments and cuts laid out
in the Governor’s 172 page
summary. In addition to their internal review, the
Legislature has made an asserted effort to hear from the all
parties that will be impacted by what the Legislature approves by
June 15.
At the time of this writing, 20 California counties have received
the go-ahead to allow dine-in restaurants, office spaces, and
some outdoor spaces to reopen with proper safety precautions
under Stage 2 of the Governor’s Resilience Roadmap. The CSAC map
below/above shows each county and links to their variance plans.
The state is investing nearly $28 million into two projects to
help counties with contact tracing efforts, including $8.7
million to operationalize an online training program for up to
20,000 new contact tracers and $18.7 million for a data
management system to support that new contact tracing workforce.
The California Department of Finance notified the Legislature on
the expected expenditures on May 8 as required by SB 89 (Chapter
2, Statutes of 2020).
CalOES announced that FEMA funding for the senior restaurant
meals program, now dubbed “Great
Plates Delivered,” has been extended from May 10 to June 10.
View resources and guidance documents for the Great Plates
Delivered program
here.
The Governor announced today that the state would be moving into
Stage 2 this Friday – for counties that can attest to their
readiness to do so.
With the state’s COVID-19 readiness “report card” in good shape –
conducting 30,000 tests daily, millions of N-95 masks on the way,
more than 2,000 hospital beds available, and 10,000 ventilators
at the ready – and significant pressure from local government
building by the hour, Governor Newsom released a new Executive
Order loosening his statewide stay-at-home order and promised new
guidance on Thursday.
Over the past week, the Governor has made a series of
announcements and focused significant time in his daily press
briefings on the issue of food assistance for older adults and
families.
Governor Newsom signed Executive
Order N-55-20 to extend deadlines and requirements for
Medi-Cal providers and facilities in the state.
The new Executive Order grants the Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) the power to waive signature requirements for
psychiatric medications and extends the administrative deadlines
for reporting and inspections for substance use disorder and
psychiatric treatment facilities.
The California
Testing Task Force hosted a second webinar for local
elected officials, local public health directors and officers,
and local emergency managers to discuss the rapid increase in
COVID-19 testing capacity and areas that they will continue
working on.
Governor Newsom announced his four stage plan to reopen the state
today, called the California Resilience Roadmap. In response to
some county concerns shared by CSAC over the weekend, he
indicated that the reopening process could occur regionally and
promised to work closely with local health officers on the
roadmap. He also took the opportunity to emphasize that the state
is trending in the right direction and that he is thinking of the
stages, especially moving from stage 1 (which we are in
currently) to stage 2, in weeks, not months.
Over the weekend, the California Department of Public Health
released the new
COVID-19 testing prioritization document. The
California Testing Task Force also hosted a webinar to
discuss the increase in COVID-19 testing capacity and areas that
they will continue working on.
The County Medical Services Program (CMSP) Governing Board has
begun accepting applications for the CMSP COVID-19 Bridge Loan
Program. The loan program aims to assist community health centers
continue the essential health care services during this pandemic.
Eligible entities are federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural
Health Clinics, and Tribal Health Programs with active contracts
in one of the
35 CMSP counties.
Accompanied by Santa Clara Supervisors Cindy Chavez and Susan
Ellenberg, as well as San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Governor
Newsom delivered one of his daily COVID-19 updates over the
weekend from a newly leased Motel 6 in Santa Clara County.
This backdrop was significant as Governor
Newsom announced a new statewide master lease
agreement/template with Motel 6 corporate. The agreement includes
5,025 new rooms across Motel 6 locations in 19 counties, and
contains language on extending the leases into the future beyond
the COVID-19 pandemic.
CSAC and county affiliates submitted a coalition
letter to our California Congressional delegation requesting
their support in urging extensions to the Section 1115 Medicaid
waiver and the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services
(1915(b)) waiver. Our coalition has specifically asked our
delegation to support a one-year extension for both waivers.
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has created a new
aid code for individuals to assist them in accessing testing,
treatment, and care for COVID-19 related services. Approved
federally as part of the CARES Act, California can now provide
access to coverage for COVID-19 diagnostic testing,
testing-related services, and treatment services, including all
medically necessary care, at no cost to the individual.
In response to the statewide impacts of COVID-19, DHCS announced
the postponement of the California Advancing and Innovating
Medi-Cal (CalAIM) implementation activities. In addition to the
postponement DHCS will request the extension to the current
Medicaid Section 1115 and Section 1915(b) Specialty Mental Health
waivers from the federal government.
