Consumer Watchdog v. California Department of Managed Health

June 30, 2009 The lawsuit challenges the validity of several policies , practices, and actions of the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), each of which violates state law and has resulted in the denial of medically necessary treatment for children with autism and their families. The plaintiffs said DMHC changed its appeals process in March 2009 so that treatment denials were reviewed by DMHC staff instead of going through the previous independent medical review process . . .