The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is the backbone of California’s health care safety net, helping millions of Californians every day. DHCS’ purpose is to provide equitable access to quality health care leading to a healthy California for all.
To fulfill this purpose, DHCS’
Strategic Plan establishes the following high-level goals:
- Be person centered – Put people first and design programs and services for whole person care in the community.
- Increase meaningful access – Ensure individuals get care when, where, and how they need it by strengthening health care coverage, benefits, and provider and service capacity.
- Achieve excellence in health outcomes – Improve quality outcomes, reduce health disparities, and transform the delivery system.
- Be an employer of choice – Attract, develop, and retain a diverse and talented team that is empowered and impactful;
- Strengthen operations – Enhance our organizational structures, processes, and systems to improve program administration.
- Leverage data to improve outcomes – Drive better decisions and results with meaningful information.
DHCS is the federally designated single state agency responsible for financing and administering the state's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, which provides health care services to low-income persons and families who meet defined eligibility requirements. Medi-Cal is authorized and funded through a federal-state partnership. Medi-Cal programs cover physical health, mental health, substance use disorder, services, pharmacy, dental, and long-term services and supports. DHCS is also the single state agency for Substance Abuse and the State Mental Health Authority, and administers county-operated community mental health and substance use disorder programs, together known as behavioral health.
Medi-Cal serves more than 14 million Californians, or nearly one in three residents, making DHCS the largest health care purchaser in the state. Our success is made possible only through collaboration with the federal government, other state agencies, counties, plans, providers, and community partners as we invest more than $200 billion annually for the care of low-income families, children, pregnant people, older adults, and people with disabilities.
As we administer this statewide safety net, DHCS also maintains a comprehensive program integrity framework to ensure public funds are used appropriately. Through strong oversight, enhanced provider screening, audits, fraud detection, investigations, and recovery efforts, we work every day to protect Medi-Cal from fraud, waste, and abuse. DHCS is a dynamic department with talented, committed employees. We work hard every day to use tax dollars effectively while continuing to improve the health of Californians and the health care delivery system of our Golden State.
DHCS Major Program Initiatives - Go-Live Dates
DHCS' initiatives are designed to support the health of Medi-Cal members and communities across California. These efforts illustrate DHCS’ commitment to delivering meaningful, person-centered care within a responsible budgetary structure and federal parameters. The link below includes a timeline of the major program initiatives and their anticipated go-live dates, pending readiness and federal approvals. This information will be updated as necessary.
