Background.
Relevant statutory authority.
The Medi-Cal Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act (the Act) was enacted “to devise a Medi-Cal long-term care reimbursement methodology that effectively ensures individual access to appropriate long-term care services, promotes quality resident care, advances decent wages and benefits for nursing home workers, supports provider compliance with all applicable state and federal requirements, and encourages administrative efficiency.” (Welf. & Inst. Code1, § 14126.02.) In 2010, the Legislature amended the Act and enacted legislation that required Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which administers the Medi-Cal program, to create the Quality and Accountability Supplemental Payment (QASP) program, which provides supplemental payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) that improve the quality of care rendered, and penalizes those facilities that do not meet measurable standards. (§ 14126.022.) SNFs can therefore receive extra monetary payments