The California Legislature had an active year, passing many new laws affecting health care—with a strong focus on health care coverage, drug prescribing, public health and mental health issues.
The California Medical Association has published a summary of the most significant new health laws of interest to physicians. For more details, see "Significant New California Laws of Interest to Physicians for 2020."
Resources for physicians and health care providers on the latest news, research and developments.
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August 09, 2022
The United States Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act along party lines on Sunday, and the bill now moves to the ...
DHCS released guidance regarding a new CPT code created to streamline the reporting of orthopoxvirus (e.g., monkeypox) ...
Governor Gavin Newsom on August 1, 2022, declared a State of Emergency to bolster the state’s response to the monkeypox...
The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2022 passed out of the United States House of Representatives Ways ...
CMA is partnering with the California Primary Care Association and Magellan on a webinar that will help physicians un...
CMA's partner podcast the Nocturnists is launching a new storytelling project to document the ramifications of Roe v. W...
Please join CMA in supporting SB 250, which reduces administrative burdens in physician practices so physicians can spe...
UnitedHealthcare will begin migrating some physicians to an updated commercial fee schedule beginning in October 2022....
August 02, 2022
CMA urgently needs all physicians, residents and medical students to send a letter to the Dept. of Education before Aug...
August 01, 2022
PHC today announced that CDPH is investing an additional $10 million to support physicians providing pediatric COVID-19...
July 28, 2022
DHCS announced that Medi-Cal Rx prescribers will again be required to submit prior authorizations for new start medicat...
CDPH is launching a new bi-weekly webinar series for physicians about therapeutics used to treat COVID-19.
July 26, 2022
DHCS is now ready to accept Medi-Cal vaccine administration claims for individuals 6 months and older.
July 25, 2022
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline officially transitioned to a simple 3-digit number on July 16, 2022. Anybody c...
July 21, 2022
DHCS has elected to postpone implementation of Medi-Cal Rx Reject Code 80, despite recently announcing it would be incl...
July 18, 2022
Due to a confluence of statutory payment cuts, lack of inflationary updates, significant administrative burdens and fis...
Effective immediately, Medi-Cal will no longer mail RADs, EFT statements or No Pay documents.
CalHHS recently published the Data Exchange Framework—a first-ever statewide data sharing agreement that is intended to...
July 14, 2022
PHC and NEPO are seeking nominations of extraordinary individuals and organizations for the 2022 Leadership Awards.
Our organizations also appreciate the Department’s stated interest in fixing its existing PSLF regulation, which inadve...
July 13, 2022
DHCS recently announced it will fund $64.9 million in student loans for 222 physicians and 35 dentists through the CalH...
July 12, 2022
The California Legislature passed and Governor Gavin Newsom signed the 2022-23 state budget, which continues California...
Although the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration is slated to expire at the end of July, it is expected that ...
DHCS has sunset the Prop. 56 funded Medi-Cal Value-Based Payments program. The program incentivized providers for meeti...
CMA recently submitted an amicus curiae letter with the California Supreme Court in support of a petition for review of...
Effective July 1, 2022, the sequestration cuts have now reverted to 2% — the rate that was in effect prior to the publi...
CMA has learned that Cigna will pause implementation of its recently announced policy to require the submission of medi...
CMS is hosting a series of webinars on specific No Surprises Act topics. The next webinar will cover surprise billing, ...
July 11, 2022
Aetna recently announced it will no longer require pre-approval for most cataract surgeries. This decision came a year ...
July 07, 2022
Shannon Udovic-Constant, M.D., Chair of the CMA Board of Trustees issued the following statement in support of Californ...
July 06, 2022
Every year PHC and NEPO bring together ethnic physicians and health care champions from across California to share valu...
July 05, 2022
A new federal law took effect in January 2022 that now requires health plans/insurers to verify the accuracy of their c...
June 30, 2022
CMA President Robert E. Wailes, M.D., issued a statement today in response to final California budget.
June 29, 2022
CDPH has released an advisory for health care providers on the evolving monkeypox outbreak. The advisory includes inf...
A CMA bill to reduce prior authorization red tape has passed out of the Assembly Health Committee. This bill—SB 250 aut...
June 28, 2022
DHCS has not yet completed the system and operational changes required to enable successful claims adjudication for adm...
The 151st Annual Session of the CMA House of Delegates will discuss three major issues when it convenes October 22-23, ...
DHCS recently announced that it would soon begin reinstating pharmacy claim edits and prior authorization requirement...
Gov. Newsom recently sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, urging him to fix the Public Service Loa...
CMS is hosting a series of webinars on specific No Surprises Act topics in the coming weeks. The next webinar will c...
June 27, 2022
CMA is urging Cigna to rescind its recently announced policy that would require the submission of medical records with ...
In the 2021 legislative session, CMA sponsored a bill to increase the tax on e-cigarette and vaping products to more cl...
PHC recently hosted the inaugural GME Leadership Summit . The virtual summit—hosted by PHC’s GME Startup Solutions p...
June 24, 2022
CMA applauds Congress for passing long overdue gun reforms, and putting aside political differences to help stop the ep...
Today the U.S. Supreme Court has rolled back the fundamental rights of Americans to receive evidence-based reproductive...
June 22, 2022
CDPH recently expanded the definition of “close contact” to better acknowledge that COVID-19 is an airborne disease, ra...
June 16, 2022
Physicians for a Healthy California and the Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations are seeking nominations of extrao...
June 14, 2022
Congress is rushing to push through a bill that recklessly expands scope of practice at the federal level.