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34 California’s approach to operationalizing medicaid transformation: regional collaboratives to build capacity and coordination among community-based organizations

bmjqir · 2025-12-01 · canonical JSON source

6 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Background Since January 2022, California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has been implementing CalAIM to integrate social care with Medicaid services, funded by the Section 1115 waiver and other state and federal resources. Core programs include Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports, which deliver nonmedical services, such as housing supports, respite and personal care, and peer supports. Community-based organizations (CBOs) were contracted; however, many were new to sophisticated data-sharing practices, Medicaid billing, and growing client volume.To address these challenges, DHCS created regional collaboratives, known as the CalAIM Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) Collaborative Planning and Implementation (CPI) initiative. HC2 Strategies and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) facilitate nine of the 25 collaboratives, all of which are overseen by third-party administrator Public Consulting Group (PCG).Objectives The regional collaboratives aim to…Build provider capability and capacity to deliver high-quality ECM and Community Support services; andStrengthen coordination and collaboration among system actors, including community-based organizations, hospitals and clinics, managed care plans, county agencies, and tribal entities.Methods The HC2-IHI team implements a comprehensive set of networking and capacity-building activities. At the regional level, monthly collaborative calls and tri-annual in-person meetings focus on building relationships, strengthening governance of the coordination network, and assessing local assets and gaps to guide action. Representatives from 15–40 local organizations attend each meeting, depending on region size.Statewide virtual activities facilitate sharing of best practices and deliver technical content on topics such as co-locating at clinical sites, billing and coding, and multi-sector case conferencing. Monthly statewide activities facilitated by HC2-IHI reach an average of 250 local leaders per month. A robust measurement and learning system ensures facilitation is targeted to participant needs, best practices from one region are scaled to others, and key learnings are escalated to DHCS.Results Average Community Support services utilization among Medi-Cal members in participating counties increased sixfold, from 0.28% in Q1 2023 to 1.70% in Q1 2025. ECM utilization tripled over the same period, rising from 0.3% to 1.0%. Collaboratives are one of multiple supports provided by DHCS, so a direct causal link cannot be established, but as of September 2025, 81% of participants in HC2-IHI collaboratives report increased knowledge of services, 79% report confidence to implement ECM and Community Supports, and 72% are confident in their ability to sustain progress into 2026 and beyond.Conclusions As funding for collaboratives concludes in 2026, we are transferring facilitation strategies and resources to local leadership so that high-quality, coordinated services continue to benefit California Medi-Cal members into the future.