WICS Live: Around the States

California: Court Again Upholds Injunction Against Medi-Cal Reimbursement Rate Cuts: In the ongoing legal battle over Medi-Cal rate reductions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit August 7th issued another decision blocking Medi-Cal reimbursement rate cuts, this time for medical transportation and home health care services. The Appeals Court rules that a federal trial court properly issued an injunction preventing the state from reducing rates, solely because of the state's need to reduce expenditures, without complying with Medicaid Act requirements that the state to consider the effect of those cuts on efficient access to economical and high quality care. The appeals court also found that the petitioners, including Independent Living Center of Southern California Inc., demonstrated that they were likely to suffer irreparable harm if the injunction were denied. There was evidence before the trial court that state Medicaid transportation providers and home health care agencies already were reducing the scope or range of services because of the cuts, the Ninth Circuit said.