1. Where do Medi-Cal recipients acquire a list of Medi-Cal providers? Medi-Cal recipients need to contact their local county office of Health and Human Services for a list of Medi-Cal providers in their county.  A listing of the local county offices can be found on the DHCS Web site.

2. Are substituting physicians required to apply as a Medi-Cal provider? Locum tenens physicians substituting for actively-enrolled Medi-Cal physicians are not required to be enrolled as Medi-Cal providers when providing locum tenens services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

Medicaid Information Release MA01-19, Procedure for Locum Tenens and Reciprocal Billing, effective August 1, 2001, allows for physicians to bill for locum tenens using the following guidelines:

• Locum tenens is the practice for physicians to retain substitute physicians to take over their professional practices when the regular physicians are absent for reasons such as illness, pregnancy, vacation, or continuing medical education, and for the regular physician to bill and receive payment for the substitute physician’s services as though he/she performed them. These substitute physicians are generally called “locum tenens” physicians. Services for recipients are not restricted to the regular physician’s office.

• Locum tenens occurs when the substitute physician covers for the regular physician during absences not to exceed a period of 90 continuous days.

• Reciprocal billing occurs when substitute physicians cover the regular physicians during absences and/or on an on-call basis not to exceed a period of 14 continuous days.

3. How do I add or remove the CHDP number on my provider file?

You need to contact CHDP at (650) 573-2877.