(a) (1) The department, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, county mental health experts, managed care plan experts, behavioral health experts, child welfare experts, and stakeholders, shall convene an advisory working group to update, amend, or develop, if appropriate, tools and protocols for the screening of children for trauma, within the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit, consistent with existing law and this section. The advisory working group shall consider both of the following:

(A) Existing screening tools used in the Medi-Cal program, including, but not limited to, the Staying Healthy Assessment developed by the department, the United States Preventive Services Task Force grade “A” or “B” recommendations, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures periodicity schedule and anticipatory guidance.

(B) The efficacy and appropriateness of the types of providers authorized to administer screenings.

(2) The department shall convene the advisory working group by May 1, 2018. The advisory working group shall report its findings and recommendations, as well as any appropriations necessary to implement those recommendations, to the department and to the Legislature’s budget subcommittees on health and human services no later than May 1, 2019. The advisory working group shall be disbanded on December 31, 2019.

(3) Findings or recommendations of the advisory working group that cannot be implemented without a subsequent appropriation by the Legislature, as determined by the department, shall not be implemented until the appropriation is made.

(4) On or before May 1, 2019, the department shall identify an existing advisory working group to periodically review and consider the protocols for the screening of trauma in children consistent with subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1). The group created pursuant to this section may, as part of its work, recommend to the department an existing group appropriate to conduct this review. The advisory working group identified by department shall review and consider the protocols for the screening of trauma in children at least once every five years, or upon the request of the department.

(b) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this section by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action.

(c) This section shall be implemented only if and to the extent that federal financial participation under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.) is not jeopardized and all necessary federal approvals have been obtained.

(d) “Trauma,” as used in this section, means the result of an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.

(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 700, Sec. 1. (AB 340) Effective January 1, 2018.)