CalAIM Enhanced Care Management, Community Supports, and Incentive Payment Program Initiatives
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Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports are foundational components of CalAIM.
Enhanced Care Management
CalAIM will improve Medi-Cal for people with complex needs and who are facing difficult life and health circumstances. It is focused on breaking down the traditional walls of health care – extending beyond hospitals and health care settings into communities.
As a key part of CalAIM, Enhanced Care Management (ECM) is a new statewide Medi-Cal benefit available to select “Populations of Focus" that will address clinical and non-clinical needs of the highest-need enrollees through intensive coordination of health and health-related services. It will meet beneficiaries wherever they are – on the street, in a shelter, in their doctor's office, or at home. Beneficiaries will have a single Lead Care Manager who will coordinate care and services among the physical, behavioral, dental, developmental, and social services delivery systems, making it easier for them to get the right care at the right time.
Download the factsheet about the CalAIM initiative to advance Enhanced Care Management.
Community Supports
Additionally, beneficiaries are being connected to Community Supports to meet their social needs, including medically supportive foods or housing supports. Community Supports are new services provided by Medi-Cal managed care plans as cost effective alternatives to traditional medical services or settings. Community Supports are designed to address social drivers of health (factors in people's lives that influence their health). All Medi-Cal managed care plans are encouraged to offer as many of the 14 pre-approved Community Supports as possible and are available to eligible Medi-Cal members regardless of whether they qualify for Enhanced Care Management services.
Download the factsheet about the CalAIM initiative to advance Community Supports to address social drivers of health.
The first CalAIM Community Supports Spotlight Webinar featuring Medically Tailored Meals on
Wednesday, May 18th at 12:00pm.
Through this series, we will review and reinforce policy guidance on individual Community Supports, identify lessons learned from community providers, Whole Person Care pilots, and managed care plans, and respond to emerging questions from the field. The webinar will feature a presentation by Project Angel Food and SPUR. Please register here to attend. Incentive Payment Program
The CalAIM Incentive Payment Program is intended to support the implementation and expansion of ECM and Community Supports by incentivizing managed care plans (MCPs), in accordance with 42 CFR Section 438.6(b), to drive MCP delivery system investment in provider capacity and delivery system infrastructure; bridge current silos across physical and behavioral health care service delivery; reduce health disparities and promote health equity; achieve improvements in quality performance; and encourage take-up of Community Supports.
Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH)
California's Section 1115 waiver renewal includes expenditure authority for the “Providing Access and Transforming Health" (PATH) initiative to maintain, build, and scale services, capacity and infrastructure necessary to ensure successful implementation of CalAIM. PATH funding aims to support community level service delivery networks to ensure access to health care services, and improve health outcomes, with particular attention to communities that have been historically under-resourced because of economic or social marginalization due to race, ethnicity, rural geography, or other factors. PATH funding is available for various entities such as Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans (MCPs), providers, counties, former Whole Person Care (WPC) Lead Entities, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), tribes and others. Learn more about PATH.
Important Updates:
This landing page will serve as the centralized repository for the most up-to-date information about ECM, Community Supports and the Incentive Payment Program. Please submit questions about these programs to:
CalAIMECMILOS@dhcs.ca.gov.
- On March 18, 2022, DHCS hosted the first meeting of the Population Health Management Advisory Group. During the meeting, members of the advisory group, which include representatives from health plans, providers, counties, state departments, consumer organizations, and other groups, provided real-time feedback and recommendations on this initiative. Meeting materials can be found on
Population Health Management page.
- On January 7, 2022, DHCS hosted a public webinar to share a comprehensive set of resources as part of CalAIM. During the webinar, DHCS provided an update on ECM and Community Supports implementation and reviewed the following new resources: ECM Provider Toolkit, Community Supports Explainer, ECM Outreach Toolkit, and ECM Member Toolkit. Meeting materials and new implementation resources are linked below.
Key Documents
Key ECM & Community Supports Documents
Key Incentive Payment Program (IPP) Documents
Informational Webinars
To support stakeholder planning and implementation, DHCS hosts informational webinars to provide ECM and Community Supports and program updates. Meeting materials will be made available here following the webinar.
Additional Resources
Listed below are additional resources with key information about ECM and Community Supports:
Questions and Comments
Contact DHCS with any questions or comments on the CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports initiatives at
CalAIMECMILOS@dhcs.ca.gov.
