California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is in the final stages of establishing new Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) requirements in Medi-Cal Managed Care. Most significantly, the guidelines specify that the MLR...more
Background - The use of telehealth increased exponentially in 2020 and 2021 as health care providers and patients responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that the use of...more
This is the first article in a series addressing key changes to the California health care marketplace, focused on changes to California’s behavioral health delivery systems. Forthcoming articles in the series will address...more
The recently unveiled California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework (the Framework) creates a new regulatory and governance structure to promote the exchange of health information between health care providers...more
Many California health care providers, including hospitals and physician groups, will soon be required to sign on to California’s first-ever statewide data sharing agreement governing the exchange of health and social...more
On December 29, 2021, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced CMS’s approval of its California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) proposal. CalAIM’s launch on January 1, 2022 is part of a...more
California’s New Budget Commits the State to Record Health Care Spending - California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature enacted a $196 billion spending plan for FY2021–22, including authorizing a 29% increase...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature enacted a $196 billion spending plan for FY 2021–22, the largest budget in state history. Buoyed by a record budget surplus estimated at $85 billion, including $26…...more