Are fewer doctors serving Medi-Cal patients? Survey data from the Medical Board of California provides insight into physician participation in this important public program. This policy briefing examined the differences in Medi-Cal physician participation across specialties and geographic regions.

The speakers were:

• Kevin Grumbach, MD, professor and chair, UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine, and chief, Family and Community Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital
• Chris Perrone, senior program officer, California HealthCare Foundation

Highlights of the presentation:

• Most California physicians participate in Medi-Cal (68%). However, there is wide variation among specialties, from 43% among psychiatrists to 85% among “facility” or hospital-based physicians.
• The data show a jump in the percentage of physicians reporting participation in Medi-Cal in 2008 compared to prior studies. Dr. Grumbach discussed several hypotheses about why this might be the case, such as a movement toward more hospitalists and physicians participating in medical foundations, efforts of Medi-Cal managed care plans to increase participation, and the survey’s close association with the Medical Board. He also discussed the extent to which there was evidence to support these hypotheses in the survey findings.
• Dr. Grumbach also expressed interest in understanding the practice type of providers — in the context of the issue of Medi-Cal participation and more broadly — and his intention to investigate further.
• The ethnicity of participating providers was not included in the presentation but is included in a published report on the survey findings (see report link below).
• Other topics discussed include the Medi-Cal Electronic Health Record incentive program, health reform, and interest in tracking provider participation in Medi-Cal regularly, particularly as the eligibility expansion and Medi-Cal reimbursement rate provisions of health reform are implemented.

The presentation slides are available under Document Downloads. A published report on the survey findings is available under Related CHCF Pages.