UC official warns enforcement of state affordability targets could affect university medical centers

Dave Rubin, EVP of health for the University of California, told the Health Services Committee that the state's new affordability regime centers on targets overseen by the Office of Health Care Affordability. "[The Office of Health Care Affordability] seeks to improve affordability for consumers and purchasers by holding health care entities, including our own medical academic medical centers accountable for cost growth targets," Rubin said during an informational presentation to regents.

Rubin said the University supports efforts to address affordability but cautioned that the implementation details remain unsettled. "There's still a lot that's unknown because OCA is still deliberating on on how it will even measure spending against targets, how it will determine when an entity meets it or exceeds that, and how that enforcement process will actually play out on the ground," he said.

The presentation summarized UC's health policy and advocacy agenda for the year and flagged the OCA process as a significant operational and financial risk for UC health systems because the office's metrics and enforcement approach could affect how medical centers are held to cost-growth limits. Rubin said he had asked Tam Ma, UC's AVP for health policy and regulatory affairs, to join him and that they were available to answer questions; no substantive questions were raised in open session.

The committee approved the January meeting minutes by roll call earlier in the session; the Chair then closed the open portion of the meeting and said the committee would go into closed session in two minutes. The informational item did not include formal committee action or a vote on policy; Rubin and UC staff said they would continue to monitor OCA's deliberations and report back as specifics become available.