On September 3, 2019, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) issued an alert clarifying that Medi-Cal coverage is available for residents who need “intermediate care,” not just for those who required “skilled” care. This confirmation became necessary because CenCal Health, a Medi-Cal health plan serving San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, has aggressively sought to deny Medi-Cal coverage to nursing facility residents on the basis of its assessments that they do not need “skilled” care.

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On September 26, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Avanir, a drug company based in California, had agreed to pay $116 million in criminal and civil penalties to resolve charges that it paid kickbacks and engaged in other illegal activities to market Nuedexta as a treatment for elders with dementia. The settlement resolves multiple whistleblower cases concerning the widespread use of Nuedexta to chemically restrain nursing home residents with dementia, which CNN first brought to public attention in its October 2017 story, The little red pill being pushed on the elderly.

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Click here to read the full letter.

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