Medi-Cal Whole Person Care (WPC) Pilot Program
In 2016, California began implementing the Whole Person Care (WPC) Pilot Program as part of the state's Section 1115(a) Medicaid waiver demonstration. As part of WPC, 25 Pilot programs representing the majority of counties in CA are providing care coordination and other services to address identified medical, behavioral health, and social service needs of high-risk Medicaid beneficiaries, with the aim of improving their health outcomes and overall well-being. WPC Pilots began enrolling eligible beneficiaries in January 2017. Currently, the WPC Pilot Program is scheduled to run through December 2020. With support from the California Department of Health Care Services, researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Mack Center are evaluating the impact of the WPC Pilot Program on service utilization, costs, and health outcomes for participating beneficiaries.
Medi-Cal Health Homes Program (HHP)
California's HHP provides care management and other services to address medical and non-medical needs of high-risk Medi-Cal enrollees. With support from Cal-IHEA, researchers at the UC Berkeley Mack Center and the Center for Healthcare Organizational Innovation Research are conducting interviews with participating Medi-Cal managed care plans and a survey of their contracted community-based care management entity partners to characterize different approaches for managing the care of high-risk patients and highlight key lessons learned in implementation.
Identifying strategies to align public health, social services, and addiction treatment to address the opioid crisis in rural OH
The national opioid crisis has resulted in increased strain on public child welfare systems, which have reported an increase in the number of children in foster care due to maltreatment associated with parental substance use. In 2017, Ohio began implementing the Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) intervention model, in an effort to facilitate coordination between the child welfare and substance abuse treatment system. Prior evidence suggests that when implemented as intended, START can facilitate parents' access to and completion of treatment, and increase their likelihood of reunifying with their children. However, START implementation is contingent on development of strong collaborative ties between child welfare and substance abuse treatment agencies, which can be challenging in practice. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, researchers at the Ohio State University and the Mack Center are examining cross-system collaborative strategies associated with START implementation and exploring the role that regional behavioral health boards may play in facilitating inter-agency collaboration among agencies in rural Ohio.