​Hospital Quality Assurance Fee Program

The Third Party Liability and Recovery Division oversees fee collection and payments to private hospitals for the Hospital Quality Assurance Fee Program.

HQAF V created by Proposition 52
SB 239 (Chapter 657, Statutes of 2013) imposed a Hospital Quality Assurance Fee (HQAF) on certain general acute care hospitals, and was made permanent by the passage of Proposition 52 in November 2016. Pursuant to California Welfare & Institutions Code section 14169.53, fees generated by the HQAF program are used to provide private hospitals with federally matched supplemental payments for inpatient and outpatient services while also generating funding for children’s health care coverage, providing direct grants to public hospitals, and reimbursing the DHCS for the direct costs of administering the program.

Federal Approval

Final federal approval for fee collection: December 14, 2017
Final federal approval for fee-for-service payments: December 18, 2017
Final federal approval for managed care payments: Pending  
 

HQAF V Program Period (January 1, 2017 - June 30, 2019): Fee-For-Service Fee & Payment Cycles

 

​Cycle​DOS SFY​Cycle (DOS)​Fee Due​Checkwrite Date
​1​2016-17​
​​1/1/17-3/31/17​2/5/2018​2/20/2018
2​​2016-17​4/1/17-6/30/17​2/28/2018​3/12/2018
​3​2017-18​7/1/17-9/30/17​3/21/2018​4/2/2018
​4​2017-18​10/1/17-12/31/17​4/11/2018​4/23/2018
​5​2017-18​1/1/18-3/31/18​5/2/2018​5/14/2018
​6​2017-18​4/1/18-6/30/18​7/11/2018​7/23/2018
​7​2018-19​7/1/18-9/30/18​10/3/2018​10/15/2018
​8​2018-19​10/1/18-12/31/18​1/2/2019​1/14/2019
​9​2018-19​1/1/19-3/31/19​4/3/2019​4/15/2019
​10​2018-19​4/1/19-6/30/19​7/3/2019​7/15/2019
 
  • These dates are estimates only and are subject to change.
  • HQAF V Managed Care fee and payment cycles are TBD. The first cycle (DOS SFY 2016-17) is estimated for January 2019. 
     

 Please visit the Medi-Cal Third Party Liability and Recovery page for instructions on how to send your fees via Electronic Funds Transfer.

 

HQAF created by SB 239
SB 239 established a program that imposes a Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) on certain general acute care hospitals in order to make supplemental and grant payments and increased capitation payments to hospitals up to the aggregate upper payment limit for the period of January 1, 2014 - December 31, 2016. 
 

Federal Approval

Final federal approval for fee collection: December 6, 2014
Final federal approval for fee-for-service payments: December 6, 2014
Final federal approval for managed care payments: Pending
 

HQAF created by SB 335 

SB 335 established a program that imposes a Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) on certain general acute care hospitals in order to make supplemental and grant payments and increased capitation payments to hospitals up to the aggregate upper payment limit for the period of July 1, 2011-December 31, 2013.

Federal Approval

Final federal approval for fee collection: June 22, 2012
Final federal approval for fee-for-service payments: June 22, 2012
Final federal approval for managed care payments: Received

HQAF created by SB 90

SB 90 set up a program that imposes a Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) on certain general acute care hospitals in order to make supplemental and grant payments and increased capitation payments to hospitals up to the aggregate upper payment limit (UPL) for the period of January 1, 2011 - June 30, 2011.

Federal Approval

Final federal approval for fee collection: May 18, 2011
Final federal approval for fee-for-service payments: May 18, 2011
Final federal approval for managed care payments: December 29, 2011
 

HQAF created by AB 1383

AB 1383, amended by AB 1653 and SB 208, set up a program that imposes a Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) on certain general acute care hospitals in order to make supplemental and grant payments and increased capitation payments to hospitals up to the aggregate upper payment limit (UPL) for the period of April 1, 2009 - December 31, 2010.

Federal Approval

Final federal approval for fee collection: September 22, 2010
Final federal approval for fee-for-service payments: October 8, 2010
Final federal approval for managed care payments: December 22, 2010 and January 18, 2011

Send a Question to the QAF Program

 
All other questions, comments, or concerns should be emailed to HQAF@dhcs.ca.gov
 

 

Back to QAF Home Page 

​

Last modified date: 12/23/2019 9:42 AM