California Health Care Foundation

Research shows that integrating mental health into primary care services can increase access to mental health care, improve patient outcomes, and reduce health care costs. While many safety-net providers have made strides toward offering integrated services, most people covered by Medi-Cal get their care outside the safety net, where such integration has not yet taken hold. This paper focuses on opportunities to support practice change in these settings.

State Medicaid programs are actively pursuing models of behavioral health value-based purchasing. This paper reviews well-publicized initiatives in three state Medicaid programs that have adopted different types of behavioral health value-based purchasing models.

The survey offers detailed insight into Californians’ views on a range of critical health issues, including health care affordability and access, perceptions on homelessness, the health care workforce, Medi-Cal, and the experiences of the uninsured.

This paper synthesizes insights from organizational leaders representing Medicaid-based partnerships in four states: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, and Oregon.

People in Medi-Cal with complex behavioral and physical health needs face a fragmented system that is challenging to navigate. This paper offers recommendations to build an integrated system of care in Medi-Cal, bringing together physical health, mental health, and substance use services to treat the whole person.

This brief distills insights from providers in three states — Arizona, New York, and Washington — that have recently transitioned to integrated managed care for physical and behavioral health conditions. It was written by the Center for Health Care Strategies with support from the Blue Shield of California Foundation and CHCF.

How well does the Medi-Cal program meet the needs of patients who require both physical and behavioral health care services? Blue Sky Consulting Group has identified measures that plans and providers can use to monitor health outcomes for people who access care across multiple systems.

The ACA mandated mental health and addiction coverage parity to beneficiaries in the individual and small-group markets and to Medicaid expansion beneficiaries. This brief, prepared by SHADAC with CHCF support, details how the ACA applied these mandates and presents estimates of the number of people affected.

A fundamental shift is underway in California to expand, improve, and reorganize Medi-Cal’s system for treating people with substance use disorders. This report summarizes the experiences of the first counties to implement this new approach.

Federal confidentiality rules, such as the "Part 2" rules, can be a stumbling block for primary care practices seeking to integrate substance use disorder treatment. This paper summarizes the rules and outlines steps that practices can take to coordinate care and stay within the law.

About 8% of Californians met criteria for substance use disorder, but only 10% of people with a substance use disorder received any type of treatment. CHCF's first Almanac publication to address this topic provides an overview of substance use and addiction in the state.

Mental Health in California: For Too Many, Care Not There provides an overview of mental health in California: disease prevalence, suicide rates, supply and use of treatment providers, and mental health in the correctional system. This Almanac report also includes available data on spending and quality of care.

This report synthesizes data about California’s behavioral health workforce. California needs to make substantial investments to meet future demand for behavioral health professionals.

For adolescents, mental illnesses and substance use disorders often occur together. This report paints a picture of California youth and the behavioral health conditions they face.

Adolescence is when mental illness and often first presents and when drug and alcohol use typically start. Risk of developing a substance use disorder is greater for people who start using during adolescence. For adolescents, mental illness and substance use disorder often occur together. This infographic shows how these issues are intertwined and the big impact they are having on our youth.

As of 2014, Medi-Cal enrollees with mild-to-moderate mental health conditions are entitled to receive mental health services through their managed care plans.