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As your President and a member of the Public Vision League Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce that yesterday Federal District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder granted petitioners' motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin enforcement of the 10% payment reduction for fee-for-service Medi-Cal providers, including optometrists, pending further proceedings. Her order was published today.
The prospective cut, enacted by the Legislature in emergency session and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in February, took effect July 1. On May 5 a coalition of providers including COA filed in Los Angeles Superior Court to block the cut in CMA, et al., v. Shewry. The PVL Board authorized an initial payment of $20,000 to support the action. A class of independent pharmacies also filed for an injunction in Sacramento Superior Court. Preliminary injunctions were denied in both those cases, so our coalition turned its attention to Independent Living Centers v. Shewry, filed in Judge Snyder's court in May. She initially denied ILC's motion but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and ordered her to reconsider the petitioners' arguments under the federal Supremacy Clause.
Every COA member who takes Medi-Cal patients should join me in thanking the PVL Board for their continuing support of our profession. Special thanks also are due to Drs. Tony Carnevali, Hilary Hawthorne, and Jay Messinger, who filed declarations in the CMA case and who agreed to be intervernors in the ILC case. (Dr. Carnevali is President of the PVL Board and Dr. Hawthorne is a Director. His declaration was cited at page 17 of the court's order.)
Sincerely,
David Redman, O.D.
COA President
