When California launched CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal) in 2022, CHCF recognized the importance of understanding how this transformative initiative was affecting the people it was designed to serve. To capture these real-world experiences, CHCF partnered with EVITARUS, a Los Angeles-based research firm, to conduct an extensive study called Listening to Californians with Complex Needs.
This comprehensive research project, conducted in 2023 and 2024, included in-depth interviews with 99 Californians with complex health needs and eight focus groups with their caregivers. The study spanned four diverse counties — Alameda, Fresno, Humboldt, and Los Angeles — ensuring voices from urban, rural, and suburban communities were heard.
The full report captures these diverse perspectives, while this series of fact sheets highlights findings specific to participants living with specific conditions or facing unique circumstances.
Read the Full Report
In Their Own Words:
What Californians with Multiple Health and Social Needs Say About Their Care
Learn about the first-hand experiences of Californians with complex health and social needs as they seek care. Their insights reveal both the promise of CalAIM’s vision and how implementation can be improved.
Review the Fact Sheets
Focus On: Californians Who Speak Languages Other Than English
Learn about the health care and social services needs directly from people with complex needs who speak a language other than English.
Focus On: Rural Californians
People living in rural Northern California face unique health and social needs. Hear from residents, including Native Americans, about their challenges and what they say could help.
Focus On: Challenges Living Independently
Older adults and people with disabilities strongly prefer in-home and community-based services to remain in their own homes and avoid moving to a nursing home.
Focus On: Transitioning From Incarceration
People leaving jail or prison often experience multiple health and social needs at once. Interviewees said a crucial need was providers with lived experience and empathy.
Focus On: Behavioral Health Conditions
In this fact sheet participants with behavioral health conditions shared the need for integrated care with fewer eligibility requirements and the importance of care managers with lived experience.
Focus On: Homelessness
Interviewees said that access to empathetic care managers is crucial for navigating complex systems and that safe, stable housing helps achieve lasting recovery.
