(a) As a component of the initiative, the State Department of Health Care Services shall develop and maintain a school-linked statewide fee schedule for outpatient mental health or substance use disorder treatment provided to a student 25 years of age or younger at a schoolsite. (b) The department shall develop and maintain a school-linked statewide provider network of schoolsite behavioral health counselors. (c) (1) Commencing January 1, 2024, and subject to subdivision (h), each Medi-Cal managed care plan and Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery system, as applicable, shall reimburse providers of medically necessary outpatient mental health or substance use disorder treatment provided at a schoolsite to a student 25 years of age or younger who is an enrollee of the plan or delivery system, in accordance with paragraph (2), but only to the extent the Medi-Cal managed care plan or Medi-Cal behavioral delivery system is financially responsible for those schoolsite services under its approved managed care contract with the department. (2) Providers of medically necessary schoolsite services described in this section shall be reimbursed, at a minimum, at the fee schedule rate or rates developed pursuant to subdivision (a), regardless of network provider status. (d) (1) The department may contract with an entity to administer the school-linked statewide behavioral health provider network in accordance with this subdivision. (2) The entity that administers the school-linked statewide behavioral health provider network shall do all of the following: (A) Create and administer a process for enrolling and credentialing all eligible practitioners and providers seeking to provide medically necessary schoolsite services described in this section. (B) Create and administer a process for the submission and reimbursement of claims eligible to be reimbursed pursuant to this section, which may include resolving disputes related to the school-linked statewide all-payer fee schedule and administering fee collection pursuant to subdivision (g). (C) (i) Create and administer a mechanism for the sharing of data between the entity contracted pursuant to this subdivision and a health care service plan, insurer, or Medi-Cal managed care plan that covers medically necessary schoolsite services subject to the school-linked statewide all-payer fee schedule that is necessary to facilitate timely claims processing, payment, and reporting, avoid duplication of claims, allow for tracking of grievance remediation, and to facilitate coordination of care and continuity of care for enrollees. (ii) Clause (i) includes requiring the entity that administers the school-linked statewide behavioral health provider network to automate, to the maximum extent possible, matching student records with health plan enrollment information, in order to reduce or eliminate the administrative burden of collecting health plan enrollment data from individual students and families on local educational agencies and institutions of higher education. (iii) The department shall require any entity administering the school-linked statewide behavioral health provider network to ensure both of the following: (I) Claims submitted pursuant to Section 1374.722 of the Health and Safety Code, Section 10144.53 of the Insurance Code, and subdivisions (c) and (f) are properly reimbursed according to applicable claim payment deadlines. (II) The deadline for a local educational agency or institutions of higher education to submit a retroactive claim for payment is the longer of the time permitted under either federal or state law. (e) A provider or practitioner of medically necessary schoolsite services participating in the school-linked statewide behavioral health provider network described in this section shall do all of the following: (1) Comply with all administrative requirements necessary to be enrolled and credentialed, as applicable, by the entity that administers the school-linked statewide b
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