Specialty care networks: telehealth and other virtual services.

Assembly Member Flora's proposal to establish specialty care networks through telehealth services aims to expand access for Medi-Cal beneficiaries who receive care from safety-net providers. The legislation creates a demonstration project, Equal Access to Specialty Care Everywhere, which would award grants to healthcare networks serving medically underserved areas.

The grant program requires recipients to partner with at least 10 qualifying providers - including rural health clinics, federally qualified health centers, and critical access hospitals - where a majority of patients are uninsured or enrolled in Medi-Cal. Funded activities include establishing networks of clinical specialists, implementing health information technology systems, and ensuring coordination between primary and specialty care providers through interoperable electronic health records. The legislation prohibits using grant funds for direct patient care services.

The California Health and Human Services Agency would oversee an independent evaluation examining multiple aspects of the demonstration project, including its impact on specialist capacity, patient access barriers, provider sustainability, and care coordination. Grantees must submit regular data for monitoring purposes, and the agency must publicly share findings to inform future specialty care network development. The program's implementation depends on funding appropriated through the state budget process.