Policy Brief: Collaborative Courts and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) in California
This policy brief provides an overview of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in California’s collaborative courts. MAT is the leading evidence-based method for treating addiction that involves both medication and behavioral health interventions. Medications for opioid use disorder include three pharmacologic agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone.
Orange County Mental Health Services Act Audit. Review of Finances, Decision-making & Contracting. A report presented to the Orange County Board of Supervisors. October 2018.
In response to concerns about Orange County’s Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) program, the Orange County Board of Supervisors engaged California Health Policy Strategies, LLC (CalHPS) to undertake an analysis of current processes and to make recommendations for improvements. The CalHPS’s team conducted approximately 50 interviews over the past six months to gather data. Additionally, data from the county and state was analyzed to inform recommendations.
California Health Policy Strategies, LLC
This policy brief outlines new funding provided in the 2018-19 state budget for programs aimed at addressing the pressing mental health and homelessness crisis, and new options for diversion.
Also referenced are funding opportunities in the 2016-2017 and 2017-18 Budget Act. These new programs create a unique opportunity for leveraging state and local resources that may help meet
the treatment and housing needs serve reentry and justice-involved individuals.
Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans: Diabetes Care HEDIS Measures – August 2018
Both Medi-Cal Managed Care plans and commercial plans are required to report common health outcome measures called HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) scores.
Policy Brief: Toward Universal Coverage: State Alternatives to the Federal Individual Mandate
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law at the end of 2017, included a provision that effectively eliminated the shared responsibility payment for individuals failing to maintain minimum essential coverage. Effective in 2019, the penalty associated with the shared responsibility payment is now reduced to $0.
Policy Brief: Whole Person Care Pilots Focusing on the Reentry Population: Overview of County Plans
The Whole Person Care (WPC) Pilot program is designed to coordinate health, behavioral health, and social services to improve the health outcomes of Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are high utilizers of the healthcare system. Collaborative leadership and systematic coordination among public and private entities is used to meet this goal. The WPC Pilot entities identify target populations, share data between systems, coordinate care in real time, and evaluate individual and population progress – all with the goal of providing comprehensive coordinated care for the beneficiary resulting in better health outcomes among vulnerable populations.
Policy Brief: EMSA Paramedicine Pilots – Estimating Statewide Medi-Cal Savings
This document presents the results of an analysis of California’s Community Paramedicine Pilot program with the aim of estimating the potential for Medi-Cal program savings if the services provided under the pilots were expanded more broadly throughout the state. Combining all the pilot concepts analyzed here, we estimate a potential general fund savings ranging from $6.3 million to $22.4 million dollars per year, with the savings depending on the extent of adoption of the services throughout the state, the reimbursement rates for the services, and assumptions about the sources of coverage for services.
Use of Psychotropic Drugs Soars in California Jails
Kaiser Health News Reporter Anna Gorman documents a 25% increase in the number of California jail inmates receiving psychotropic medications over the past five years. The article cites California Health Policy Strategies’s policy brief that reviewed state data from 45 counties. The article has appeared in the Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, Kaiser Health News, and other news outlets. You can also hear Anna Gorman discuss her findings on KQED.
Reentry Health Policy Project: Overview and Policy Briefs – March 2018
The Reentry Health Policy Project is working to (1) identify state and county-level policies and practices that impede the delivery of effective health and behavioral health care services for formerly incarcerated individuals who are medically fragile (MF) and living with serious mental illness (SMI), as they return to the community; (2) find best practices that can replicated at the state and local level; and (3) offer actionable recommendations for policy-makers and stakeholders to consider.
A Collaborative Approach for Patients with Diabetes
As front-line health care providers, optometrists are seeing alarming increases in the prevalence of diabetes among their patients. In response, the California Optometric Association (COA) has spearheaded a statewide effort to improve prevention, early intervention and treatment of this deadly disease.
Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans. Lower income individuals have significantly higher incidence of diabetes, but most low-income Californians are now covered by Medi-Cal managed care plans. CalHPS conducted an analysis of these plans and ranked them based on their HEDIS scores related to diabetes care.
The CalHPS analysis has helped to foster innovative partnerships with health plans, community health clinics and optometrists to improve diabetes HEDIS scores and patient care. Anthem Blue Cross, for example, has sponsored “Diabetes Clinic Days” in Sacramento and Fresno. In this model approach, outreach workers contacted Anthem Blue Cross patients who had previously been diagnosed with diabetes but had not received a follow-up check or care for some time. Patients were scheduled for visits at local clinics, and offered free transportation. Those who came in received “one stop-shop” comprehensive diabetes screenings, needed eye exams, and other health care services.
Other health plans are now developing their own initiatives in other parts of the state.
Learn More:
Fresno “Diabetes Clinic Days” fact sheet
Click here to see ABC – Channel 10 Sacramento Coverage
Click here to see Fox – Channel 26 Fresno Coverage
Medicare Advantage Patients. CalHPS analyzed data from the California Office of the Patient Advocate and Integrated Health Care Association (IHA) to compare medical groups serving patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans in California. Our report looked at diabetes related quality scores for 171 different medical groups and ranked them. Based on this work, CalHPS is now reaching out to medical groups and the California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG) to explore potential collaborations to improve diabetes care.