Governor Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden have declared a state of emergency in response to the wildfires raging across Southern California that have destroyed 2000+ structures and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 residents. The California Medical Association and Los Angeles County Medical Association are working to help physicians facing challenges and disruptions in patient care due to the ongoing fires. 

CMA is working with regulators and payors to understand the flexibilities offered by each plan and insurer and will soon publish a guide to help ensure patients continue to have appropriate access to medically necessary health care services. 

Under state law, health plans and insurers are required to act quickly to ensure patients in areas affected by wildfires and other disasters have continued access to care. Plans and insurers operating in counties affected by an official state of emergency must within 48 hours of the emergency declaration notify the California Department of Managed Health Care and California Department of Insurance (CDI) about the actions they have taken or are in the process of taking to ensure that the health care needs of its enrollees are met. 

CDI sent a notice to its regulated insurance companies on Wednesday, reminding them of their obligations under California law. CMA is also working with regulators, plans and insurers to consider various actions to ease the burden on physicians as they continue their work caring for patients including: 

• Relaxing time limits for or suspending requirements for prior authorization, precertification or referrals.
• Extending claims filing deadlines.
• Suspending prescription refill limitations; allowing impacted insureds to refill prescriptions at out-of-network pharmacies and covering the prescriptions as if they were obtained from a network pharmacy; allowing earlier refills; providing expedited shipping options for mail-order prescriptions at no additional cost to the insured; and waiving any increased cost sharing obligations for using retail pharmacies instead of mail-order pharmacies.
• Authorizing an insured to replace medical equipment or supplies.
• Allowing an insured to access an appropriate out-of-network provider if an in-network provider is unavailable due to the state of emergency or if the insured is out of the area due to displacement.

Physicians who are having trouble getting care for patients affected by the wildfires can contact the CMA Center for Economic Services for assistance at (800) 786-4262 or economicservices@cmadocs.org.

For More Information
The California Health and Human Services Agency has also published an emergency resource guide with helpful information regarding prescriptions, mental health support and more.

• For up-to-date information about evacuation orders: lacounty.gov/emergency
• For emergency preparedness tips: ready.ca.gov.