California’s government collects vast amounts of clinical and cost data about the care it provides to the 12 million people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the nation’s largest Medicaid program.

Aggregating and analyzing this data, which are spread across multiple departments, is a key to understanding the Medi-Cal population, identifying opportunities to improve health care and outcomes, and managing public spending.

The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) hosted a one-day symposium to discuss new research by state officials and university partners on the characteristics, health care usage, and costs associated with Medi-Cal’s high-cost populations, as well as research emerging from Washington State.

Staff from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and other experts joined to discuss the implications for program design and policy development.

For those unable to attend the symposium, a webinar on June 9 provided an opportunity to hear and discuss one of the featured presentations, “Understanding Medi-Cal High-Cost Populations,” by Ken Kizer and Jim Watkins. A recording of the webinar is below.

 
Presenters and moderators for the panel on March 4 were:

• Andrew Bindman, MD, professor, Medicine and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco
• Sarah Brooks, MSW, chief, Managed Care Quality and Monitoring Division, DHCS
• Debbie Innes-Gomberg, PhD, district chief, Mental Health Services Act Implementation and Outcomes Division, Los Angeles County Dept. of Mental Health
• Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, director, Institute for Population Health Improvement, UC Davis Health System, and distinguished professor, UC Davis School of Medicine (Department of Emergency Medicine) and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
• Neal Kohatsu, MD, MPH, medical director, DHCS
• David Mancuso, PhD, director, Research and Data Analysis Division, Washington State Dept. of Social and Health Services
• Chris Perrone, MPP, director, Health Reform and Public Programs Initiative, CHCF
• Linette Scott, MD, MPH, chief medical information officer, DHCS
• Sarah S. Steenhausen, MS, senior policy advisor, The SCAN Foundation
• Jim Watkins, CPA, MPPA, chief, Research and Analytics Studies Branch, DHCS

The slides from the presentations are available as Document Downloads.