SB912 - Comprehensive perinatal services.

Amended IN Senate April 27, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 912 Introduced by Senator Cervantes January 26, 2026 An act to amend Sections 123491, 123492, 123493, 123516, 123520, and 131051 of, to add Sections 123486, 123487, 123501, 123521 to, and to repeal and add Section 123490 of, the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Sections Section 14132 and 14132.100 of, and to repeal and add Section 14134.5 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to health care. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 912, as amended, Cervantes. Comprehensive perinatal services. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for various services, including comprehensive perinatal services and federally qualified health center (FQHC) and rural health clinic (RHC) services, that are rendered by Medi-Cal enrolled providers. Under existing law, FQHCs and RHCs receive a per-visit prospective payment system (PPS) rate for each visit. Existing law establishes the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program, the goals of which are to decrease and maintain the decreased level of perinatal, maternal, and infant mortality and morbidity in the State of California and to support methods of providing comprehensive prenatal care that prevent prematurity and the incidence of low birth weight infants. Under the program, the State Department of Public Health is required to develop and maintain a statewide comprehensive community-based perinatal services program and enter into contracts, grants, or agreements with health care providers to deliver these services in a coordinated effort. Existing law also requires the department to monitor the delivery of services under those contracts, grants, and agreements through a uniform health data collection system that utilizes epidemiologic methodology. This bill would instead require the State Department of Health Care Services to oversee a statewide comprehensive community-based perinatal services program and enroll health care providers to deliver these services to Medi-Cal members and make conforming changes, but would maintain the State Department of Public Health’s role with related contracts, grants, and agreements. The bill would specify that any participation by the State Department of Public Health does not change the State Department of Health Care Services’ authority to implement comprehensive community-based perinatal services for purposes of the Medi-Cal program. By January 1, 2028, the bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to clarify each department’s roles and responsibilities regarding comprehensive perinatal services by regulation. The bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Health Care Services to develop a training on administering the informational and educational materials on comprehensive perinatal services, require all perinatal providers providing perinatal care to Medi-Cal members to attend the training, services by January 1, 2028, and require all Medi-Cal managed care plans to ensure providers receive the training. disseminate the materials, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, no later than July 15, 2027, to submit to the Assembly Committee on Health and the Senate Committee on Health, and post on its internet website, a report that identifies the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals that received comprehensive perinatal services from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2025, inclusive. The bill would also require the State Department of Health Care Services, commencing January 1, July 15, 2028, and every 3 years thereafter, to submit to those committees, and post on its internet website, a report that identify the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals that received and were offered comprehensive perinatal services during the previous 3 calendar years. This bill would require a Medi-Cal provider providing pregnancy care managed care plan to inform each Medi-Cal member treated during the perinatal period regarding the availability of and access to comprehensive perinatal services. On an effective date designated by the State Department of Health Care Services that is no sooner than January 1, 2027, the bill would prohibit a PPS billable visit from including an encounter with a comprehensive perinatal practitioner who is not otherwise a PPS billable health professional. The bill would authorize the department to implement an alternative payment methodology for FQHCs and RHCs to obtain reimbursement for encounters with community health workers at no less than the applicable Medi-Cal fee-for-service rate when provided either on the same day or different day as a PPS billable visit. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation implementing several recommendations made in California State Auditor Report 2023-103: The Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program to enhance monitoring and oversight and do all of the following: (a) Clarify that the State Department of Health Care Services is responsible for the delivery of the comprehensive perinatal services benefit as the single state agency pursuant to Section 10740 of the Welfare and Institutions Code that oversees the Medi-Cal program. It is the intent of the Legislature that the State Department of Health Care Services collaborate with the State Department of Public Health when appropriate. (b) Require the State Department of Health Care Services to collaborate with the State Department of Public Health on updated regulations related to comprehensive perinatal services. (c) Require the State Department of Health Care Services to modify an existing system or develop a new system of oversight to monitor and publicly report comprehensive perinatal services utilization data for comprehensive perinatal services for eligible Medi-Cal members. SEC. 2. Section 123486 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 123486. Any participation in administration of the program by the State Department of Public Health, including administrative services pursuant to a contract or other collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services, shall not supplant, create concurrent, nor supersede the State Department of Health Care Services’ authority as the designated single state agency for the administration of the federal Medicaid program pursuant to Section 10740 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and as designated in California’s Medicaid state plan. As such, the State Department of Health Care Services is ultimately responsible for the implementation of this benefit for the purposes of the Medi-Cal program. SEC. 3. Section 123487 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 123487. (a) The State Department of Health Care Services shall collaborate with the State Department of Public Health to update the regulations related to comprehensive perinatal services to clarify the roles and responsibilities from each department and make adjustments to the current monitoring and oversights systems, including the monitoring of managed care plans and fee-for-service providers, by January 1, 2028. (b) The By January 1, 2028, the State Department of Health Care Services, with collaboration from the State Department of Public Health, shall develop a training on administering informational and educational materials on comprehensive perinatal services. By January 1, 2028, the services for providers and recipients. The State Department of Health Care Services shall require that all providers providing perinatal care to Medi-Cal members complete the training, including managed care plan and fee-for-service providers. do all of the following regarding the materials: (1) Post the materials on its internet website and inform providers through a provider bulletin. (2) Require managed care plans to annually disseminate provider materials to network providers providing perinatal care. (3) Require managed care plans to disseminate recipient materials once to pregnant or postpartum members when pregnancy or postpartum status is initially identified. (4) Annually disseminate materials to Medi-Cal fee-for-service providers who are not also managed care providers. (5) Disseminate recipient materials to pregnant or postpartum members in the fee-for-service system when the pregnancy or postpartum status is initially identified. SEC. 4. Section 123490 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed. SEC. 5. Section 123490 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 123490. The State Department of Health Care Services shall oversee a statewide comprehensive community-based perinatal services program and enroll health care providers to deliver these services to Medi-Cal members. SEC. 6. Section 123491 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 123491. (a) There is hereby established a voluntary nurse home visiting grant program for expectant first-time mothers, their children, and their families, to be administered by the State Department of Public Health pursuant to Section 123492. The program may be cited as the Nurse-Family Partnership program. (b) The goals and objectives of the program shall be the same as, but shall not be limited to, those in the community-based comprehensive perinatal health care system as set forth in Section 123505. (c) The State Department of Public Health shall adopt regulations for the implementation of this section in accordance with Section 123516. SEC. 7. Section 123492 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 123492. The State Department of Public Health shall develop a grant application and award grants on a competitive basis to counties for the startup, continuation, and expansion of the program established pursuant to Section 123491. To be eligible to receive a grant for purposes of that section, a county shall agree to all of the following: (a) Serve through the program only pregnant, low-income women who have had no previous live births. Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 123485, women who are juvenile offenders or who are clients of the juvenile system shall be deemed eligible for services under the program. (b) Enroll women in the program while they are still pregnant, before the 28th week of gestation, and preferably before the 16th week of gestation, and continue those women in the program through the first two years of the child’s life. (c) Use as home visitors only registered nurses who have been licensed in the state. (d) Have nurse home visitors undergo training according to the program and follow the home visit guidelines developed by the Nurse-Family Partnership program. (e) Have nurse home visitors specially trained in prenatal care and early child development. (f) Have nurse home visitors follow a visit schedule keyed to the developmental stages of pregnancy and early childhood. (g) Ensure that, to the extent possible, services shall be rendered in a culturally and linguistically competent manner. (h) Limit a nurse home visitor’s caseload to no more than 25 active families at any given time. (i) Provide for every eight nurse home visitors a full-time nurse supervisor who holds at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing and has substantial experience in community health nursing. (j) Have nurse home visitors and nurse supervisors trained in effective home visitation techniques by qualified trainers. (k) Have nurse home visitors and nurse supervisors trained in the method of assessing early infant development and parent-child interaction in a manner consistent with the program. (l) Provide data on operations, results, and expenditures in the formats and with the frequencies specified by the State Department of Public Health. (m) Collaborate with other home visiting and family support programs in the community to avoid duplication of services and complement and integrate with existing services to the extent practicable. (n) Demonstrate that adoption of the Nurse-Family Partnership program is supported by a local governmental or government-affiliated community planning board, decisionmaking board, or advisory body responsible for assuring the availability of effective, coordinated services for families and children in the community. (o) Provide cash or in-kind matching funds in the amount of 100 percent of the grant award. (p) Prohibit the use of moneys received for the program as a match for grants currently administered by the State Department of Public Health. SEC. 8. Section 123493 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 123493. (a) The State Department of Public Health may accept voluntary contributions, in cash or in-kind, to pay for the costs in the implementation of the program under Section 123492. These private donations shall be deposited into the California Families and Children Account, which is hereby created in the State Treasury, in which, notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, is hereby continuously appropriated to the State Department of Public Health for purposes of implementing Section 123492. State funds shall not be used in implementing Section 123492. (b) The State Department of Public Health shall only distribute grants established under Section 123492 if the Director of Finance determines, in writing, that there are sufficient funds from private donations available in the account for expenditure for the purposes of the program. (c) The State Department of Public Health’s administration costs shall not exceed 5 percent of the moneys in the account created under subdivision (a). Any costs to the State Department of Public Health incurred prior to the account receiving funds shall be reimbursed to the State Department of Public Health from funds in the account. (d) The State Department of Public Health shall not apply for grants or solicit private funds. (e) If, as of January 1, 2009, the Director of Finance determines pursuant to subdivision (a) that there are insufficient funds on deposit in the account to implement the voluntary nurse home visiting grant program, the account shall cease to exist. SEC. 9. Section 123501 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 123501. (a) The State Department of Health Care Services shall require all Medi-Cal managed care plans to include information on comprehensive perinatal services in the plan member handbooks. (b) The State Department of Health Care Services shall require all Medi-Cal managed care plans to ensure that th [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]