Network Adequacy

Network Adequacy Standards in California: How They Work and Why They Matter

Amy Y. Gu, Michele Ellson, Katherine L. Gudiksen

Health Care Costs

In California, both state and federal laws impose provider network adequacy standards on health plans to ensure that the plans provide meaningful access to health care for enrollees. Yet these standards may put plans at a competitive disadvantage when negotiating contracts with providers such as specialists in short supply. This issue brief outlines considerations for policymakers.

Concert Health Aims to Scale Collaborative Mental Health Care

January 30, 2020

Behavioral Health, Investing in Innovation, Telehealth, Workforce

Patients served by small and rural primary care physicians may benefit from a remote version of this increasingly popular model for providing mental health care.

Health Affairs’ Rural Health Issue Has Special Relevance to California

December 9, 2019

Xenia Shih Bion

Behavioral Health, Maternal Health, Workforce

Stories That Caught Our Attention: Millions of Americans in rural areas face significant barriers to care and in almost every state are burdened with higher mortality rates than people in urban areas.

Independent Nurse Practitioners Bridge Big Gaps in Rural Care

Heather Stringer

California is one of 22 states that do not permit nurse practitioners to practice and prescribe without ongoing physician oversight. Journalist Heather Stringer traveled to Colorado to see how nurse practitioners are being deployed in two rural communities.

How California Can Finally Close In on Meaningful Health Price Transparency

Kristof Stremikis

Health Care Costs

For more than a decade, state and federal policymakers have argued for greater health care price transparency. Their efforts received a push in recent weeks.

Mental Health Worker Shortage Takes Center Stage

December 14, 2018

Behavioral Health

Regardless of the outcome of the Kaiser Permanente mental health workers strike, the need for state health policy leaders to reduce California's worsening shortage of behavioral health providers is urgent.

Sustainable Models of Telehealth in the Safety Net

Telehealth, Medi-Cal

Working with Medi-Cal managed care plans and community health centers across the state, CHCF is implementing the initiative, Sustainable Models of Telehealth in the Safety Net, to improve access to specialty care among Medi-Cal enrollees.

California Lawmakers Asked CHCF How to Improve Access to Care in Medi-Cal. Here’s What We Told Them.

February 8, 2018

Christopher Perrone

Medi-Cal, Telehealth

Chris Perrone, director of CHCF's Improving Access team, told the California Legislature how Medi-Cal expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has affected access to care for people who rely on the program.