(a)

1. (1) Any rural hospital may request to participate in a two-year pilot project to perform delegated acute inpatient hospital treatment authorization review under the Medi-Cal program.
2. (2) Any hospital that elects to participate in the pilot project under this section shall enter into an agreement with the department to ensure the appropriateness of the treatments and services that it provides to a Medi-Cal beneficiary.
3. (3) Any rural hospital that elects to participate in a pilot project pursuant to this section shall remain in the project for not less than one year, unless it is removed by the department pursuant to subdivision (c).

(c)

1. (1)

   1. (A) If the department determines, as a result of a review required by subdivision (b), that the hospital has provided treatment that cannot be approved by the department, the department shall take an immediate disallowance that shall require offsets against pending Medi-Cal payments and any direct payment that may be required by the department. The disallowance shall be based on full extrapolation of the sample to the universe of Medi-Cal days covered by the sample period.

   2. (B) In addition to the requirements of subparagraph (A), if the department determines that the hospital has provided treatment that cannot be approved by the department for 3 percent or more of the Medi-Cal beneficiary days, the department shall take corrective action relative to the hospital’s participation in the pilot project. The corrective action shall include at least one of the following actions:

      1. (i) The revocation of the hospital’s participation pursuant to subdivision (a).
      2. (ii) An increased random review process.
      3. (iii) Mandatory educational programs.
2. (2) After the random review required by subdivision (b), the hospital shall, through the reduction of the regularly scheduled periodic interim payment over a one-year period, pay the state an amount equal to the reimbursement received by the hospital for services for which approval has been denied and extrapolated pursuant to paragraph (1). This paragraph does not preclude any hospital from appealing a determination of the department under Article 5.3 (commencing with Section 14170). However, any issue under appeal shall not delay any disallowance or corrective action taken by the department under paragraph (1) until the appeal is resolved.

(f)

1. (1) As part of the pilot project implemented under this section, the department may, subject to federal approval, authorize the reimbursement of a participating rural hospital at a predetermined amount every two weeks or on some other basis determined to be appropriate by the department. Following every six-month period, the department shall immediately begin adjustment of any overpayment or underpayment, based on the amount paid to the provider as compared to the actual amount of claims approved by the department. Any hospital that is selected to participate in the pilot project under this section that elects to be paid for acute inpatient services under this subdivision shall be subject to the payment provisions of this section for the duration of the hospital’s participation in the pilot project.
2. (2) The amount of reimbursement under paragraph (1) shall be based on the actual claims payment experience for each hospital for the immediately preceding period of six months and rate adjustments made in accordance with existing Medi-Cal reimbursement requirements.