(a) (1) A child welfare public health nursing early intervention program shall be conducted in the County of Los Angeles, as provided in this section, and with the county’s consent. The purpose of the program is to improve outcomes for the expanded population of youth at risk of entering the foster care system by maximizing access to health care and health education, and connecting youth and families to safety net services. It is the intent of the Legislature for the program to maximize the use of county public health nurses in the field in order to provide families with children who are at risk of being placed in the child welfare system with preventative services to meet their medical, mental, and behavioral health needs.

(2) The program shall be administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH), in cooperation with the county’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(3) Funding appropriated for purposes of the program shall be used for, but not limited to, the following:

(A) Hiring a sufficient number of new public health nurses, with the goal of achieving an average caseload ratio of 200:1.

(B) Hiring additional public health nursing supervisors to provide necessary guidance and support.

(C) Hiring senior and intermediate typist clerks to assist with data entry.

(D) Establishing an accountability mechanism and a shared information and data exchange system.

(b) A county public health nurse providing services under the program may do all of the following:

(1) Respond to emergency response referrals with social workers.

(2) Conduct emergency and routine home visits with social workers.

(3) Educate social workers on behavioral, mental and physical health conditions.

(4) Identify behavioral and health conditions that social workers are not trained to identify.

(5) Provide followup with families of youth who remain in the home to monitor compliance with the medical, dental, and mental health care plans to promote wellbeing and minimize repeat referrals.

(6) Conduct routine followups and monitoring of medically fragile and medically at-risk children and youth in the Family Maintenance and Reunification programs.

(7) Provide parents and guardians with educational tools and resources to ensure the child’s physical, mental, and behavioral health needs are being met.

(8) Interpret medical records and reports for social workers.

(c) (1) The DPH, in cooperation with the DCFS, shall develop appropriate outcome measures to determine the effectiveness of the program, including established triaging tools and visitation protocols, in achieving the objectives described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a). Commencing on January 1 during the fiscal year when funding has been provided to the DPH by the State Department of Social Services, and each January 1 thereafter, the DPH shall report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the program using those outcome measures, including any recommendations for continuation or expansion of the program.

(2) A report submitted under this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with § 9795 of the Government Code.

(d) (1) Before January 1, 2021, and to the extent enabled by existing resources or appropriated funds, the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the County of Los Angeles, shall determine the steps required to seek any federal approvals necessary to claim federal financial participation for those allowable Medicaid activities of the program described in subdivision (a) and shall seek any federal approvals necessary to claim federal financial participation available for those identified Medicaid activities.

(2) The County of Los Angeles shall submit to the State Department of Health Care Services any information deemed relevant to the determination described in paragraph (1) at the time and in the form and manner specified by that department.

(3) With respect to any Medicaid activities identified pursuant to paragraph (1) for which federal approval is sought, those activities shall be implemented only to the extent that the State Department of Health Care Services obtains any necessary federal Medicaid approvals.

(4) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this subdivision, in whole or in part, by means of provider bulletins, plan letters, or other similar instructions, without taking any further regulatory action.

(e) Contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, the State Department of Social Services shall provide funds to the DPH for the purposes described in this section.

(f) Notwithstanding any other law, including the personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, and the State Contracting Manual, any state funds annually appropriated to the State Department of Social Services for the purposes described this section that are not used as the nonfederal share for Medicaid expenditures approved pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be passed through in a single lump-sum to the DPH.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 86, Sec. 51. (AB 153) Effective July 16, 2021.)