14728.
(a) (1) A county mental health plan may contract with a local educational agency (LEA) to provide Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) services to Medi-Cal eligible pupils.(2) For purposes of this section, “local educational agency” means a school district, a county office of education, a nonprofit charter school participating as a member of a special education local plan area, or a special education local plan area.
(3) (A) Subject to subparagraph (B), if an LEA does not contract with the county mental health plan, the department shall permit an LEA to make claims for federal financial participation directly to the department for EPSDT services either directly provided by the LEA or that the LEA has contracted for. Unless otherwise precluded by federal law, an LEA shall be reimbursed for eligible EPSDT services provided pursuant to this section.
(B) To receive federal financial participation under this paragraph, the LEA shall pay the nonfederal share of EPSDT expenditures and shall certify its public expenditures for EPSDT services to the department.
(b) (1) Services that a county mental health plan may contract with an LEA for, or that an LEA may receive federal financial participation for, shall include, but are not limited to, any of the following:
(A) Mental health assessments.
(B) Targeted case management services.
(C) Behavioral services.
(D) Mental health, social work, and counseling services.
(E) Individual and group services.
(F) Crisis intervention.
(G) Day treatment.
(H) Residential treatment.
(I) Medication support services.
(2) The Legislature does not intend for this section to authorize an LEA or a county mental health plan to knowingly provide, or submit a claim for, duplicated EPSDT services.
(c) The department shall examine methodologies for increasing LEA participation in the Medi-Cal program to encourage schools to meet the educationally related health care needs of their pupils, which shall include simplifying the claiming processes for Medi-Cal billing to the extent possible.
(d) (1) This section shall be implemented to the extent permitted by federal law.
(2) The department shall undertake all necessary activities to obtain federal financial participation for reimbursable services provided by LEAs or contracted for by LEAs under this section.
(3) (A) The department shall seek approval of any amendments to the state plan or federal waivers necessary to implement this section, in accordance with Title XIX (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.) of the Social Security Act. Notwithstanding any other law, this section shall be implemented only when all necessary federal approvals have been obtained, and to the extent that federal matching funds are obtained.
(B) The department shall utilize the renewal of the California Medi-Cal 2020 Demonstration, Number 11-W-00193/9, as the opportunity to seek necessary federal approval thereby streamlining the federal approval process.