Communicating Big Changes to California’s Health Care System

The Affordable Care Act aims to provide health care coverage for all Americans. For those who have limited financial and physical resources, coverage has been expanded for Medicaid benefits. The news is full of stories about how some states have not accepted the federal Medicaid expansion dollars. This is not the case in California. Here, the state has launched the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI), which started in Los Angeles County on April 1^st of this year.

LA Care logo CCI is attempting to integrate and coordinate Medicare and Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) benefits through approved managed care health plans, in order to make care processes and payments more efficient, and to improve the way care is being delivered. Hershey Cause Communications client, L.A. Care Health Plan, is one of the five health plans participating in the new program in Los Angeles.

The CCI brings about two changes in the way health care is delivered. First, Long-Term Services and Supports will transition from a Medi-Cal fee-for-service benefit to a Medi-Cal health plan benefit. This means most Medi-Cal beneficiaries will be required to join a health plan to continue to receive these benefits and services, and physicians may want to consider participating in those plans.

The second major part of California’s CCI is called Cal MediConnect, which is designed to dramatically improve health care for the state’s most vulnerable patients: low-income seniors and people with disabilities. Cal MediConnect offers “dual eligible” patients the option to integrate their Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits into one single, coordinated health plan. “Dual eligibles” are patients who are eligible for both Medicare and Medi-Cal.

The most significant advantages to Cal MediConnect plans is that patients will gain a broader care team, a care coordinator focused on meeting each individual’s medical needs and additional benefits such as dental and vision coverage. The result: improved communication among providers, more support and care for the most vulnerable patients and a system that’s much easier to navigate for the patients, their families and caregivers.

Ultimately, streamlining the way care is delivered is the right thing to do. But, as we all know, the process of change can be difficult. Patients and providers who are accustomed to operating in the old system – as fragmented and cumbersome as it was – are now faced with new choices and questions about how the new health plans will operate. Many Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries are looking to their physicians and their staffs to help them navigate the changes.

We are happy to be assisting L.A. Care in developing an educational campaign aimed at physicians, health care administrators and community partners. Over the next year, Hershey Cause Communications will engage these key constituencies through events at local hospitals, community centers and via easy-to-access webinars. We are developing high-quality collateral and presentation materials, including FAQs, fact sheets and resource guides to help physicians and community leaders guide patients who are being affected by the changes. The goal: to assist providers and patient advocates help their patients make the right choices.

Hershey Cause Communications is pleased to be making a positive difference in the way health care reform is being communicated in California. We look forward to continuing our work with L.A. Care assisting our local physicians, clinicians and their patients through the challenges of a changing health care environment.

More information on the LA Care Health Plan can be found at www.calmediconnectla.org