Report 2009-112 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2009-112: Department of Health Care Services: It Needs to Streamline Medi-Cal Treatment Authorizations and Respond to Authorization Requests Within Legal Time Limits (Release Date: May 2010)

Recommendation #1 To: Health Care Services, Department of

To streamline the provision of Medi-Cal services and improve its level of service, Health Care Services should conduct cost-benefit analyses to identify opportunities to remove authorization requirements or to auto-adjudicate those medical services and drugs with low denial rates, low paid claims, or high TAR administrative costs.

1-Year Agency Response

Health Care Services' contractor completed a cost-benefit analysis of the TAR process and found that a small number of medical services did not meet the cost benefit test and recommended that Health Care Services consider auto-adjudicating those services. The contractor also identified certain drugs with low costs and high approval rates that would be the best candidates for auto-adjudication and recommended that Health Care Services use the analysis as the basis for further study to identify any additional opportunities for auto-adjudication. (See 2012-406, p. 79)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2009-112

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.