A California bill on Medicaid payment, signed into law. Takes effect July 6, 2026.
What this means for a building owner
This covers skilled nursing homes paid by the state's Medicaid program, mainly freestanding ones that pay the quality assurance fee. The fee keeps being charged and the facility-specific rate system keeps running for one more year. For 2026 and 2027, the labor part of your rate can rise up to 5 percent a year, based on audited cost reports; the other cost parts rise by 1 percent in total over the 2025 rate. The fee and the rate system now run through December 31, 2027, and the change started July 6, 2026.
What the bill does
This new law keeps California's Medi-Cal payment system for skilled nursing homes running through December 31, 2027. It also keeps the nursing home quality assurance fee in place through December 31, 2027, instead of ending it a year earlier. These rules are now set to be wiped off the books on January 1, 2029, or later if closeout work is still going on. It took effect right away when signed on July 6, 2026.
Written by AI from the bill's own Chaptered text of July 6, 2026, on September 23, 2026. Not legal advice. Read the official text ›
Signed into law · in force since July 6, 2026
California has 1,165 certified nursing homes; 953 of the 1,035 that file a cost report show Medicaid residents, and a Medicaid payment change reaches each of them.
Official title Skilled nursing facilities: reimbursement rates.
An act to amend Sections 1324.29 and 1324.30 of the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 14126.033 of, and to amend and repeal Section 14126.036 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to health and care facilities, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
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What this affects
- Who pays, or is paid
- The state's Medicaid program pays. Every Medicaid-certified nursing facility in California is paid off this schedule.
- Which buildings
- 1,165 facilities holding 114,991 licensed beds in California.
- The dollars, or the rule
- This law applies to freestanding skilled nursing facilities paid under the Medi-Cal Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act. It extends the quality assurance fee assessment from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2027, and keeps the facility-specific rate methodology operative through December 31, 2027, with repeal of the…
- Effective
- July 6, 2026 (already in force).
- Status
- Signed into law, as of July 6, 2026.
Rate changes reach every Medicaid bed in the state, and a thin-margin operator feels them within a quarter.
Latest action, July 6, 2026: Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 61, Statutes of 2026.
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Legislative data: LegiScan LLC (legiscan.com) · CC BY 4.0
Bill text and status: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov · retrieved August 3, 2026