Publication

Adults with Disabilities in Medi-Cal Managed Care: Conference Summary

Health Systems Research, Inc.

In January 2002, the California Legislative Analyst's Office proposed that the state consider expanding Medi-Cal managed care for beneficiaries with disabilities as part of the solution to cover the state's $20 billion budget deficit at that time. Although the California Legislature did not adopt this change, the proposal raised questions about the Medi-Cal delivery system for people with disabilities and the implications of moving more of this population into managed care.

On February 27, 2003, the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) sponsored a conference to provide a forum in which policymakers, program administrators, representatives from health plans and provider organizations, consumer advocates, and researchers could discuss the implications of expanding Medi-Cal managed care for people with disabilities. To this end, findings from a number of recent studies commissioned by CHCF were released and discussed at the meeting.

This report summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place at the meeting. It is organized around the following four areas:

1. The policy context with respect to Medi-Cal managed care for people with disabilities;
2. The opportunities and challenges associated with a transition to mandatory managed care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries with disabilities, as perceived by consumers, providers, and health plans;
3. An examination of the lessons learned from other states that have enrolled working-age Medicaid recipients with disabilities in managed care; and
4. The outstanding issues and information needs identified by participants.

The full summary is available under Document Downloads below. The studies that were released and discussed at the meeting are listed in Appendix A and are cross-linked on this site. The agenda for the meeting appears in Appendix B. The list of conference attendees and presenters appears in Appendix C.