CA SB296

Limits the State Department of Health Care Services' ability to audit Medi-Cal specialty mental health services billing documentation to criteria explicitly set forth in state regulations, interpretive letters, compliance directives, federal Medicaid terms and conditions, and the Medicaid state plan.

Prohibits the department from requiring counties or county contract behavioral health providers to copy or reenter unchanged information from a patient's existing case record into subsequent progress notes, assessments, or treatment plans unless explicitly required by federal directive.

Allows counties and county contract providers to incorporate by reference any information from a patient's entire case record when documenting treatment, including assessments, treatment plans, evaluations, and progress notes.

Requires audit findings relating to service billing documentation that do not comply with these standards to be considered advisory findings only, with no disallowances permitted unless the department modifies its regulations or provides written clarification to counties.

Directs the department to consider further revisions to documentation requirements to minimize paperwork and eliminate duplicative requirements, and to submit a proposal to the Legislature in the same fiscal year it proposes to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services a revised billing method for mental health services.