Here are the four options qualifying providers may select from in order to begin participating for the first performance period, scheduled to begin January 1, 2017. Selecting an option is important to ensure that a practitioner is not penalized in 2019.

While the first year for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act is 2019, the performance period is 2017 (unless modified in the final rule). Thus, performance in 2017 will determine payment adjustments in 2019.

Current Senate Bill SB 482 by State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) would require physicians to check California's Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) database when prescribing Schedule II or III drugs to a patient for the first time, and regularly if treatment continues.

On July 22, President Obama signed into law the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016, also known as CARA.

On June 27, Governor Jerry Brown signed the state’s  July 2016 2016-2017 budget, which plans for $122.5 billion in General Fund spending.