​​​​​​​​​​​1915(b) Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services Waiver

California's 1915(b) SMHS Waiver renewal was approved for a five-year term, July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2020, and includes Special Terms and Conditions (STCs). The STCs are included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) approval letter below and are geared toward improving program integrity, monitoring, and compliance. Among other requirements, the STCs specifically require the posting of MHP performance data (dashboards), Plans of Correction, and Quality Improvement Plans on the DHCS website.​

 

On March 23, 2021 CMS approved DHCS' request for a temporary extension of the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services (SMHS) 1915(b) waiver program through December 31, 2021. This nine-month extension allows DHCS time to develop and obtain approval for specific California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiatives, and to align with the proposed one-year extension of the Section 1115 demonstration (Medi-Cal 2020). CalAIM is a multi-year Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) initiative to implement overarching policy changes across all Medi-Cal delivery systems. Throughout 2019 and 2020, DHCS conducted extensive stakeholder engagement for both CalAIM and the Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration renewal. The goal is to transition all existing managed care authorities into one consolidated Section 1915(b) California managed care waiver, with a proposed effective date of January 1, 2022. For more information about the CalAIM initiatives and stakeholder engagement process, please visit the CalAIM homepage and CalAIM 1115 Demonstration & 1915(b) Waiver webpage.