What Wider Circle does
Wider Circle runs community-based, peer-led programs for older adults with low incomes. Since 2016, it has served 7,000 Medicare Advantage and Medicaid communities across urban, suburban, and rural areas. Among these members, 61% live with at least one chronic condition, and 40% manage two or more.
The approach groups members by shared interests, health conditions, and where they live. A community lead runs the group through an intensive four- to six-week program where members build strong relationships and a self-sustaining community. When it ends, members join a local Wider Circle chapter for events, health workshops, and social gatherings.
Why this matters
Under CalAIM, the California Department of Health Care Services now requires all local Medi-Cal managed care plans to establish Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans, or D-SNPs, for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medi-Cal. CHCF’s issue brief on Medicare Medi-Cal Plans found that people in aligned models gave high ratings for quality and access, with satisfaction rising over time.
For many Medi-Cal plans, running a D-SNP is new territory that carries operational and financial risk. Plans need to assess members’ medical, functional, cognitive, and mental health needs; assign risk scores and build individualized care plans; use interdisciplinary care teams; and manage new quality and reporting measures. Wider Circle gives plans the capacity to run these programs well and reduce those risks.
Founder and CEO: Darin Buxbaum
Darin brings deep health care experience as an entrepreneur and enterprise leader. He co-founded Oration, an insurance technology company that helped self-insured employers lower prescription drug costs, and founded HourGlass Technologies, where he served as president and CEO.
Why CHCF cares
Our communities are stronger when older neighbors, friends, and family can take full part in them. CHCF is committed to helping older people with low incomes and complex needs live well at home and in their communities, and we’re backing the partners advancing state initiatives to improve their care.
California is aging fast. The over-60 population is growing more racially and ethnically diverse than any other age group, and by 2030 one in four Californians is projected to be an older adult. Many want to keep living independently, and they need high-quality care and community-based support to do it. Wider Circle helps make that possible.
See the Innovation Fund FAQ to learn more about program-related investments at the California Health Care Foundation and how we reinvest profits in our mission-related work.