Medi-Cal Children's Health Advisory Panel
Effective January 1, 2015, the Medi-Cal Children’s Health Advisory Panel (MCHAP) was formed under the terms of
Assembly Bill (AB) 357 (Pan, Chapter 376, Statutes of 2014) which codifies the administration of the Panel at the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). Previously, the Panel had served as an advisory body for the former Healthy Families Program (HFP), which was administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB). On January 1, 2014, the Panel began operating as a stakeholder group for DHCS, and was collaboratively renamed to the Advisory Panel for Medi-Cal Families. In 2017,
Senate Bill (SB) 220 (Pan, Chapter 280, Statutes of 2017) revised the qualification criteria for three MCHAP positions, established member term lengths, and made other minor technical changes.
MCHAP advises DHCS on policy and operational issues that affect children in Medi-Cal. The Panel consists of a 15-member advisory body whose members include recognized stakeholders and experts in their fields, medical professionals, advocates, and parent members. To facilitate focused discussion of children’s health issues, the meetings generally are designed in a ‘deep dive’ format with discussions centering on several topics at each meeting.