California is in the second year of CalAIM, the five-year initiative to improve the health outcomes and the overall well-being of Medi-Cal enrollees. Achieving these goals requires that CalAIM address the state’s complex system for financing and delivering behavioral health care.

Under the behavioral health payment reform component of CalAIM, payment for specialty behavioral health services will transition from cost-based reimbursement to a fee-for-service (FFS) system.

CalAIM Behavioral Health Payment Reform (PDF) focuses on this payment transition, with detailed descriptions of both the former cost-based reimbursement system and the new FFS approach.

This issue brief is based on CalAIM and Specialty Behavioral Health Care: Lessons from Other States on Value-Based Payment.