SB 857 Summary

• Transfers the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board's programs (Healthy Families, Access for Infants and Mothers, County Health Initiative Matching Fund, and Major Risk Medical Insurance Program) to the State Department of Health Care Services, effective July 1, 2014.

• Expands mental health and substance use disorder parity requirements for health care service plans and insurers, requiring compliance with federal parity standards by January 1, 2015.

• Establishes the Medi-Cal Access Program to provide pregnancy-related and postpartum coverage for women with income between 208-317% of federal poverty level, with state payment of premiums and cost-sharing for Exchange enrollees.

• Transfers medical information confidentiality enforcement duties from the Office of Health Information Integrity to the State Department of Public Health, including authority to impose administrative fines for unauthorized access or disclosure of medical information.

• Modifies the Office of Patient Advocate to focus on coordinating state health care consumer assistance programs and collecting data on consumer complaints, rather than directly assisting individual consumers.