April 2, 2024 - Stakeholder News
Top News
Case Study: California's Medi-Cal Redetermination Journey
Over the last year, DHCS and county and federal partners have collaborated to redetermine the eligibility of Californians who receive health coverage through Medi-Cal. Throughout the process, DHCS adopted newly offered federal flexibilities to help reduce the administrative burden on Medi-Cal members and increase efficiencies in renewal processing. Several income-related waivers became effective for the December 2023 redetermination month. With technical assistance from the White House United States Digital Service (USDS), DHCS successfully automated these waivers, resulting in more members being successfully auto renewed without needing to fill out and return a renewal packet to their county.
USDS and the California Health & Human Services Agency published an
issue brief summarizing the flexibilities California leveraged from the federal government to improve the auto-renewal processes. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
announced additional actions to help people maintain coverage as states continue Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program eligibility renewals.
Mobile Medi-Cal Dental Van Tour
On April 4, DHCS will kick off the second mobile dental van tour in Fresno. DHCS' Smile, California campaign promotes preventive dental services for children and youth to enhance utilization of essential dental care and improve oral health. In addition to Fresno, the mobile dental van will visit Pixley (April 5), Hollister (April 11), Avenal (April 12), and Huntington Park (May 4). Services performed onsite will include exams, X-rays, cleaning, and fluoride applications.
Medi-Cal members, medical and dental providers, and community-based organizations can learn more about Medi-Cal's covered dental services by visiting the Smile, California website, in English at
SmileCalifornia.org or in Spanish at
SonrieCalifornia.org. The website includes helpful resources, such as informational flyers, videos, fact sheets, and the “
Find-A-Dentist" tool to locate a dental provider.
Program Updates
CalAIM Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) Technical Assistance (TA) Marketplace Vendor Application Opens on April 1
On April 1, DHCS will open the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM)
PATH TA Marketplace Round 4 vendor application period. The PATH TA Marketplace is a one-stop-shop website where entities can access free TA services from curated and approved vendors. Vendor services are helping eligible Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports providers build their data capacity, strengthen cross-sector partnerships, train existing and new staff, implement linguistically responsive services, and more.
Organizations interested in applying to qualify as a TA vendor can apply on the PATH TA Marketplace webpage. Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. PDT on April 30. Approved vendors will receive PATH-funded reimbursements for TA services they provide in the TA Marketplace.
Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Interim Payment Performance Data
DHCS this week will post facility-level payment data for the 2023 SNF Workforce and Quality Incentive Program (WQIP), which incentivizes facilities to improve quality of care, advance equity in health care outcomes, and invest in the workforce. Data are posted on the
SNF WQIP webpage. For WQIP program-related questions or concerns, please email
SNFWQIP@dhcs.ca.gov. For additional information about other nursing facility financing reform programs authorized by AB 186 (Chapter 46, Statutes of 2022), please see the
Nursing Facility Financing Reform (AB 186) webpage.
Telehealth: Interactive Utilization Dashboard and Report
DHCS this week will release the first phase of its public-facing interactive telehealth dashboard and companion Biennial Telehealth Utilization Report, as part of an overall initiative aimed at monitoring telehealth utilization within Medi-Cal. Both the dashboard and report will assist DHCS with building a better and more robust foundation for further evaluating telehealth policy using a data-driven approach. DHCS' objective is to consistently provide a range of telehealth metrics and articulate telehealth data in a public-facing format that is easy to access and understand. DHCS anticipates publishing the dashboard and the report in two phases. Phase one will include eight measure sets of medical services data related to telehealth utilization. Phase two will expand the dashboard to include data sets related to mental health, the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System, and dental.
The dashboard is anticipated to be completed with all data sets in summer 2024 and will be updated annually thereafter. To serve as a complement to the dashboard, DHCS created the report, which provides an executive summary of Medi-Cal telehealth utilization, trends, and key takeaways from 2019 to 2022. For more information, please visit the
Medi-Cal & Telehealth webpage. Please email your questions to
Medi-Cal_telehealth@dhcs.ca.gov.
Health Enrollment Navigators Project Partner Data
On March 29, DHCS released Health Enrollment Navigators Project partner-specific data from January 2020 through September 2022 summarizing the following activities: outreach, application assistance, assistance with accessing and using health care services (navigation), troubleshooting, and redetermination assistance. Enrollment and retention are stratified by age groups, immigration status, race/ethnicity, sex, and written and spoken languages. Please see the
Navigators Project Partner webpage for more information. Please email your questions to
HealthNavigators@dhcs.ca.gov.
Join Our Team
DHCS is hiring for communications, human resources, auditing, health policy, information technology, and other teams. For more information, please visit the
CalCareers website.
Upcoming Stakeholder Meetings and Webinars
Consumer-Focused Stakeholder Workgroup (CFSW)
On April 5, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., DHCS will convene the CFSW, which provides stakeholders an opportunity to review and provide feedback on a variety of consumer messaging materials. The forum focuses on eligibility- and enrollment-related activities and strives to offer an open discussion on Medi-Cal policies and functionality. Meeting materials, including the meeting agenda, will be posted to the
CFSW webpage no later than April 3. Please email your questions to
DHCSCFSW@dhcs.ca.gov.
CalAIM PATH TA Marketplace Final Virtual Vendor Fairs
On April 9 and 25, from 9 to 10:30 a.m., DHCS will host the final virtual CalAIM
PATH TA Marketplace Vendor Fairs, where vendors pitch their organization and services to potential TA Recipients and encourage utilization of the TA Marketplace. Approved TA Recipients and organizations currently contracted with or planning to contract with a Medi-Cal managed care plan (MCP) or other eligible entity to provide ECM/Community Supports are encouraged to attend.
The
April 9 Vendor Fair features vendors providing services in Domain 2: Community Supports and Domain 7: Workforce. Domain 2 includes TA vendors with expertise in designing, implementing, and improving one or more Medi-Cal Community Supports services. Domain 7 includes TA vendors with expertise in recruiting and retaining a well-prepared, high-performing workforce, with a particular focus on members of the frontline, clinical, and/or “lived experience" workforces.
The
April 25 Vendor Fair features vendors providing services in Domain 5: Promoting Health Equity and Domain 6: Supporting Cross-Sector Partnerships. Domain 5 includes TA vendors with expertise to help TA recipients advance health equity through their implementation of ECM/Community Supports and in their work with Medi-Cal members. Domain 6 includes TA vendors with the expertise to help TA recipients successfully engage in cross-sector partnerships, including partnerships between Medi-Cal MCPs and counties.
California Children's Services (CCS) Advisory Group Meeting
On April 10, DHCS will host the
CCS Advisory Group quarterly meeting. The CCS Advisory Group and DHCS work in partnership to ensure children in the CCS and the Whole Child Model (WCM) program receive appropriate and timely access to quality care. Agenda topics include updates on the WCM post transition monitoring and expansion, CCS Compliance, Monitoring, and Oversight Workgroup, Child Health and Disability Prevention program, and CCS Redesign Performance Measure Quality Subcommittee.
Additional information is available on the
CCS Advisory Group webpage. Please email your questions to
CCSProgram@dhcs.ca.gov.
In Case You Missed It
California Offering Free Fentanyl Test Strips Through the Naloxone Distribution Project (NDP)
DHCS announced the expansion of the
NDP to include fentanyl test strips (FTS), which can be obtained by eligible organizations throughout the state of California. FTS are used to detect the presence of fentanyl in drug samples prior to ingestion. NDP applicants will have the option to request naloxone, FTS, or both at no cost through the
online application. Since the NDP began in 2018, it has distributed more than 3,994,000 kits of Naloxone, which have been used to reverse more than 252,000 overdoses.
