2010 California Welfare and Institutions Code 14067
Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP! Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.
(a) The department, in conjunction with the Managed Risk
Medical Insurance Board, may develop and conduct a community outreach
and education campaign to help families learn about, and apply for,
Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program of the Managed Risk Medical
Insurance Board, subject to the requirements of federal law. In
conducting this campaign, the department may seek input from, and
contract with, various entities and programs that serve children,
including, but not limited to, the State Department of Education,
counties, Women, Infants, and Children program agencies, Head Start
and Healthy Start programs, and community-based organizations that
deal with potentially eligible families and children to assist in the
outreach, education, and application completion process. The
department shall implement the campaign if funding is provided for
this purpose by an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or other
statute.
(b) An annual outreach plan shall be submitted to the Legislature
by April 1 for each fiscal year for those years for which there is
funding in the annual Budget Act or other statute for the outreach
and education campaign. The plan shall address both the Medi-Cal
program for children and the Healthy Families Program and, at a
minimum, shall include the following:
(1) Specific milestones and objectives to be completed for the
upcoming year and their anticipated cost.
(2) A general description of each strategy or method to be used
for outreach.
(3) Geographic areas and special populations to be targeted, if
any, and why the special targeting is needed.
(4) Coordination with other state or county education and outreach
efforts.
(5) The results of previous year outreach efforts.
(c) In implementing this section, the department may amend any
existing or future media outreach campaign contract that it has
entered into pursuant to Section 14148.5. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, any such contract entered into, or amended, as
required to implement this section, shall be exempt from the approval
of the Director of General Services and from the provisions of the
Public Contract Code.
(d) (1) The department, in conjunction with the Managed Risk
Medical Insurance Board, may award contracts to community-based
organizations to help families learn about, and enroll in, the
Medi-Cal program and Healthy Families Program, and other health care
programs for low-income children. The department shall implement this
subdivision if funding is provided for this purpose by an
appropriation in the annual Budget Act or other statute.
(2) Contracts for these outreach and enrollment projects shall be
awarded based on, but not limited to, all of the following criteria:
(A) Capacity to reach populations or geographic areas with
disproportionately low enrollment rates. If it is not possible to
estimate the number of uninsured children in a geographic area who
are eligible for the Medi-Cal program or the Healthy Families
Program, proxy measures for rates of eligible children may be used.
These measures may include, but are not limited to, the number of
children in families with gross annual household incomes at or below
the federal poverty levels pertinent to the programs.
(B) Organizational capacity and experience, including, but not
limited to, any of the following:
(i) Organizational experience in serving low-income families.
(ii) Ability to work effectively with populations that have
disproportionately low enrollment rates.
(iii) Organizational experiences in helping families learn about,
and enroll in, the Medi-Cal program and Healthy Families Program.
Organizations that do not have experience helping families learn
about, and enroll in, the Medi-Cal program and Healthy Families
Program shall be eligible only to the extent that they support and
collaborate with the outreach and enrollment activities of entities
with that experience.
(C) Effectiveness of the outreach and education plan, including,
but not limited to, all of the following:
(i) Culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach and
education strategies.
(ii) Strategies to identify and address barriers to enrollment,
such as transportation limitations and community perceptions
regarding the Medi-Cal program and Healthy Families Program.
(iii) Coordination with other outreach efforts in the community,
including the statewide Healthy Families Program and Medi-Cal program
outreach campaign, the state and federally funded county Medi-Cal
outreach program, and any other Medi-Cal program and Healthy Families
Program outreach projects in the target community.
(iv) Collaboration with other local organizations that serve
families of eligible children.
(v) Strategies to ensure that children and families retain
coverage and are informed of options for health coverage and services
when they lose eligibility for a particular program.
(vi) Plans to inform families about all available health care
programs and services.