Tagged With "Medi-Cal"
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California Is Giving Doctors Incentives To Ask Patients About Childhood Trauma [capradio.org]
By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 9, 2019 California health officials want children and adults on Medi-Cal to get screened for traumatic childhood events that can cause negative health effects down the line. Now the state has started giving doctors and nurses tools to do the screenings. People who experience adversity early in life have much higher chances of substance abuse, depression, or chronic diseases than their peers, according to national research. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s...
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Whole-Family Wellness for Early Childhood: A New Model for Medi-Cal Delivery and Financing [cachildrentrust.org]
The California Children’s Trust and First 5 Center for Children’s Policy just announced the publication of their vision for a new approach for California to conceptualize, deliver, and fund a system of care—grounded in family wellness—for Medi-Cal eligible infants and toddlers. Whole-Family Wellness for Early Childhood: A New Model for Medi-Cal Delivery and Financing was developed by The California Children’s Trust and the First 5 Center for Children's Policy. The primary authors are Ken...
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Sacramento Briefing Explores Integration of Physical and Behavioral Health in Medi-Cal [chcf.org]
By Catherine Teare, California Health Care Foundation, February 28, 2020 Hundreds of providers, administrators, government officials, consumers, and advocates attended a CHCF briefing last week to learn how Medicaid programs can integrate behavioral health services — mental health care and treatment of substance use disorder — and physical health care. The February 18 event in Sacramento shared information about how Medicaid programs outside California approach the integration of physical...
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Santa Barbara County Undocumented Children to Receive Expanded Health Coverage Through Medi-Cal (noozhawk.com)
A state law going into effect this month would make several thousand undocumented children in Santa Barbara County eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal coverage . Starting this month, undocumented children 19 and under in California are eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal coverage, including an estimated 3,000-4,000 children in Santa Barbara County . Senate Bill 75 , signed into law last June, expands health insurance coverage options to undocumented children. Currently, many of these children are...
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Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in California: Insights and Perspectives (Webinar) [ncg.org]
From Northern California Grantmakers, February 2020 Since January 1, 2020, Medi-Cal providers have been eligible to receive payment from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to screen patients for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). This program is part of an initiative led by the Office of the California Surgeon General and DHCS and is the product of several legislative efforts, including the passage of AB340, that have facilitated the momentum around universal...
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To Help Children Get Mental Health Care, Researchers Call for Overhaul of Medi-Cal [calhealthreport.org]
By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report, October 10, 2019 Should health plans do more to support parents in raising stable families? That’s the recommendation from a coalition of child health researchers who are calling for an overhaul of part of the state’s Medi-Cal program. Medi-Cal is California’s low-income health program that covers 40 percent of children in the state. The recommendations are included in a report, from the First 5 Center for Children’s Policy and a group of...
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Free Rides to Doctor’s Offices Help Low-Income Californians Get to Medical Care [CA Health Report]
Following a state law that went into effect last year, significantly more low-income Californians are using free transportation to get to medical appointments. Ride services were already offered by 17 of the 21 Medi-Cal managed-care health plans. Yet AB 2394, authored by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, mandated that all enrollees have access to free transportation, whether through ride sharing, vans or public transport. The mandate officially took effect last July for Medi-Cal,...
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Medi-Cal Expansion and Children's Well-Being [ppic.org]
By Paulette Cha, Shannon McConville, Public Policy Institute of California, November 2019 Under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), California expanded eligibility for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to most non-elderly, non-disabled low-income adults. Although this change focused directly on improving the health and well-being of adults, it is likely that Medi-Cal expansion has had a dramatic effect on households with children. In recent years, as the federal government has...
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Medi-Cal Healthier California for All [cachildrenstrust.org]
By Alex Briscoe, California Children's Trust, January 23, 2020 Since mid 2018, with your guidance and support, we have raised awareness and achieved a consensus about the need to address the escalating youth mental health crisis in California. In over 100 presentations across the state, we have made clear our position that solutions to this crisis must be centered on equity and justice and a reimagining of how we fund, define, deliver, and measure the social and emotional health of children...
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Medi-Cal To Expand Eligibility To Young Undocumented Adults. But Will They Enroll? [khn.org]
By Ana B. Ibarra, Kaiser Health News, November 21, 2019 Starting in January, young adults can sign up for California’s Medicaid program regardless of immigration status. But a fundamental question looms: Will they? Some young people already say they won’t enroll in public coverage because they fear federal immigration policies could later penalize them for participating — though that fear might be unfounded. Add to that their age. Young adults — both immigrants and non-immigrants — are...
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Mental Health Care Could Get Easier for New Moms Under New California Rules [capradio.org]
By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 18, 2019 When Susan Yee Kearns brought her son home from the hospital a year and a half ago, she started worrying about him almost immediately. She woke up thinking he might have died. She was afraid to be away from him. “There was a lot of anxiety,” the Sacramento mom said. So she sought mental health help through her Medi-Cal insurance. But Yee Kearns' provider told her that Medi-Cal would only cover 60 days of treatment. When it was over,...
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New Screenings for Childhood Trauma Raise Hopes, Questions [calhealthreport.org]
By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report, December 20, 2019 California health officials are gearing up for the launch of a statewide screening effort that aims to help doctors measure children’s exposure to trauma and their risk of related health problems. Starting Jan. 1, California will become the first state in the nation to reimburse health care providers who screen patients enrolled in the Medi-Cal program for “adverse childhood experiences” or ACEs. The $40 million effort has...
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Orange County Human Relations Campaign Provides a 'Toolkit' for Schools to Prevent Hate Crimes [latimes.com]
By Ben Brazil, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2019 In response to increasing hate crimes and incidents, Orange County Human Relations is rolling out its first statewide anti-hate program to equip schools with the resources to launch their own educational and awareness campaigns. The nonprofit will provide schools with a “toolkit” that contains the necessary components for an anti-hate campaign, including templates, documents, posters and digital content. O.C. Human Relations staff will hold...
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Researchers Call for Quality-Improvement Changes in Medi-Cal Plans [chcf.org]
By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, October 7, 2019 California should move swiftly to improve the quality of care in the managed care plans that serve 80% of Medi-Cal’s nearly 14 million enrollees, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Led by Professor of Medicine Andrew Bindman, MD, with support from CHCF, the researchers examined 41 quality measures and found that more than half of the quality measures stayed the same or declined...
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California Woman is Unable to Get Insurance - So She Took Her Health Into Her Own Hands [fresnobee.com]
By Yesenia Amaro, Center for Health Journalism, October 24, 2019 A red bandana holds back Judit Garcia’s hair as sweat stains become visible on her pink shirt. Her face and arms are sweaty, and she looks tired. But she’s not giving up. Almost an hour after beginning her workout, the 42-year-old Raisin City resident is still keeping up with all the steps in her Zumba class in the neighboring rural town of Caruthers. It doesn’t help that it’s a very hot evening in the Central Valley, and the...
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Health care for 7 in 10 CA children funded by Medicaid or CHIP
Proposed cuts and changes to public health insurance programs would have a disproportionate effect on California kids compared with kids in the nation as a whole.
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HIGHLIGHT!! Live webinar: CA surgeon general and DHCS medical director discuss ACE screening training
Join a live webinar with California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and Dr. Karen Mark Medical Director, Department of Health Care Services for a Medi-Cal provider introduction to the new ACEs Aware Initiative and the www.ACEsAware.org website. The Office of the California Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), in the first public unveiling of the initiative, will host a live webinar to share details of the new ACEs Aware Initiative for Medi-Cal providers...
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Re: HIGHLIGHT!! Live webinar: CA surgeon general and DHCS medical director discuss ACE screening training
The effect of the above-described approach is summarized this paragraph from the attached article. "Another example of the research potential of this approach to preventive medicine was demonstrated by an analysis of 135,000 consecutive adults going through Health Appraisal in a 2.5-year period. ACE Study questions relating to traumatic life experiences in childhood had recently been added to the comprehensive medical history questionnaire that patients filled out at home. A major data...
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Re: Mental Health Care Could Get Easier for New Moms Under New California Rules [capradio.org]
Here is a possibility for well trained Doulas both for the birth and postpartum periods to provide much needed support--both practical and emotional.
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Medi-Cal Agency's New Head Wants to Tackle Disparities and Racism [californiahealthline.org]
By Samantha Young, California Healthline, July 29, 2020 When Will Lightbourne looked at the statistics behind California’s coronavirus cases, the disparities were “blindingly clear”: Blacks and Latinos are dying at higher rates than most other Californians. As of Monday, Latinos account for 45.6% of coronavirus deaths in a state where they make up 38.9% of the population, according to data collected by the California Department of Public Health. Blacks account for 8.5% of the deaths but make...
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ACEs Aware Invests in Santa Barbara County, CA
September 10, 2020 Resilient Santa Barbara County is proud to support the efforts of the statewide ACEs Aware initiative, led by the California Department of Health Care Services and the Office of the California Surgeon General. This initiative seeks to change health outcomes and save lives by helping Medi-Cal providers understand the importance of screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and responding to patients with trauma-informed care. ACEs Aware offers Medi-Cal providers...
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On the Governor's Desk Now: Take Action on this California Legislation
Legislation SB 803 - Introduced by state Sen. Jim Beall What it does: The Bill will set up a standardized process to train and certify peer support specialists. Why it’s important: Medicaid allows federal dollars to help pay for peer support specialists – but only in states with a process for standardizing training and certifying workers. Passage of SB803 will greatly expand the network of support for people with mental illness, and compensate people who are already providing informal...
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Mental health bills signed by Governor—but new data shows much more is needed to address crisis!
In recent days Governor Newsom signed into law three bills that take important steps to improve access to mental health care in California: AB 2112 establishes a state office of suicide prevention SB 803 will certify and train Peer Support Specialists that can bill Medi-Cal SB 855 increases mental health parity requirements commercial health plans Together these bills acknowledge our racialized crisis of despair (AB 2112), launch the formal integration and honoring of lived experience in our...
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Re: As Your Stress Rises, We Are Resilient Can Help!
Can't wait to participate! Thanks for making these learning opportunities available at no cost! I learned so much from your last meeting! Karen
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As Your Stress Rises, We Are Resilient Can Help!
Do you feel your stress rising, especially as COVID and political disturbances are raging? We Are Resilient is a practical hands-on approach to strengthening resilience and reduce stress. We can all benefit from recognizing what gets in the way of our resilience as well as learn how to practice these practical skills which promote it. We Are Resilient is particularly helpful for healthcare providers and staff to be more comfortable addressing ACEs and trauma and provide trauma-informed care.
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Network-of-Care: Building a Roadmap Towards Resilience
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An Essential Report to Help Children’s Mental Health Advocates Claim the Medi-Cal Entitlement
Dear Friends and Allies On behalf of the millions of California’s children entitled to mental health support and services, we are pleased to share this groundbreaking report: “ Meeting the Moment: Improving EPSDT Implementation in California to Address Growing Mental Health Needs .” READ THE REPORT Envisioned by the California Children’s Trust (CCT), and written by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) and the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), the report offers advocates and...
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Network-of-Care: Building a Roadmap Towards Resilience
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Network-of-Care: Building a Roadmap Towards Resilience
One of the ways we are expanding awareness of the ACEs Aware initiative is by hosting Facilitated Network-of-Care sessions for Medi-Cal and other providers in Orange County. These two hour sessions are perfect for practitioners who want to learn more about action planning and strategic change in trauma-informed care and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on individuals and communities. Join us at one of the upcoming events on: Tuesday 01.26.2021 - 10-12 pm PST Tuesday...
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Re: Network-of-Care: Building a Roadmap Towards Resilience
Hopefully, mention will be made of Primary Prevention, which would involve figuring out how to improve parenting skills across the nation. Mention is made of Registering, but no means is provided for that, at least that I could find.
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CCT maps out 2021 -- Hope and Healing on the Horizon
Dear Friends and Allies, As we emerge from a year of crisis and despair, we are lifted by the hope of a new administration and the growing state and national consensus that we must respond at scale to the social and emotional challenges facing children. Challenges clearly driven by structural racism, the stabilization of poverty, and a culture that equates wealth with value, and fame with merit. CCT and our allies are doubling down on our commitment to reimagine children’s mental health as a...
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Network-of-Care: Building a Roadmap Towards Resilience
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The Path Forward for Telemental Health + Join Our Upcoming Webinars
NO GOING BACK: Providing Telemental Health Services to California Children and Youth After the Pandemic, is the first in a series of briefs outlining how technology can make mental health more accessible with concrete recommendations based on providers’ perspectives, and lessons learned during the pandemic. Read the Report When the shelter-in-place mandate started, California’s mental and behavioral health providers quickly pivoted to telehealth delivery for children and adolescents. Recent...
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Network-of-Care: Building a Roadmap Towards Resilience
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Peer-to-Peer-Resilient Parenting: Tools and Strategies that Work
Peer-to-Peer - Resilient Parenting: Tools and Strategies that Work. A two-hour discussion of tools and strategies that providers can use with parents to buffer toxic stress and build resiliency in their children. Learn how to talk to parents about ACEs, support the process of parental coregulation, and promote buffering through healthy coping. Join us on Wednesday 3.03.21.
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Youth Advocates are Speaking Out to Reimagine our Mental Health System
Dear Friends and Allies, This is a moment for transformation led by youth advocates—those with lived experience—to reimagine a mental health system centered on equity and justice. While concerns remain with the state's proposals on both Telehealth and CalAIM, there are some hopeful signs of reform on the horizon including: $700 million proposed in the Governor’s budget to support student mental health in schools. The updated CalAIM proposal which advocates for the removal of a diagnosis for...
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Youth Advocates are Speaking Out to Reimagine our Mental Health System
Dear Friends and Allies, This is a moment for transformation led by youth advocates—those with lived experience—to reimagine a mental health system centered on equity and justice. While concerns remain with the state's proposals on both Telehealth and CalAIM, there are some hopeful signs of reform on the horizon including: $700 million proposed in the Governor’s budget to support student mental health in schools. The updated CalAIM proposal which advocates for the removal of a diagnosis for...
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Unprecedented new funding expected for California’s schools--is it enough to address the youth mental health crisis?
Dear Friends and Allies California schools are slowly beginning to reopen and billions of dollars in federal and state funds have been committed to support the long road of not only getting our kids in school but helping close the learning gap and address the social-emotional stress of the past 12 months. The specifics, as reported by EdSource , include: $15.3 billion in assistance to California’s K-12 schools from the American Rescue Plan. An additional $6.6 billion appropriated by Gov.
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Every Day is About Mental Health Awareness at WYS
Although mental health and wellness is our primary focus EVERY DAY at Western Youth Services (WYS). May is Mental Health Awareness month
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A world-class youth mental health system must be built by youth
Last week Governor Newsom released the May Revision of his proposed state budget which includes an investment of $20 billion to make public schools gateways of equity and opportunity , with 20% of those funds —$4 billion dollars—dedicated to transforming California’s behavioral health system into a world-class, innovative, and prevention-focused system for Californians age 0-25. For young people, their families, allies and advocates, the proposal represents an unprecedented opportunity to...
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Upcoming Peer-to-Peer and Network of Care Events
Western Youth Services is hosting various Peer-to-Peer and Network of Care Events for May and June 2021.
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Care Coordination is Key to Children’s Mental Health Equity: Read Our New Brief and Hold MCOs Accountable
Dear Friends and Allies, California is at a historic intersection of unprecedented new resources for children’s mental and behavioral health, and an opportunity to insist on equity in who receives, delivers, and is paid for children’s mental health services. On June 1st, the state released its draft Request for Proposal (RFP) which we hoped would clearly outline what is expected of Medi-Cal Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), including how they would be held accountable to provide required...
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💗 Get A FREE Copy of My NEW Book - It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD
Hi Everyone! The good news is after seven years, with a five-year break (AKA stall-out), I have finally finished my new book and have titled it: It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD Although my book won't be available to the general public until its launch date on Feb 21 st , 2023, I am offering FREE advance reader copies to a limited amount of people this week. Below is a summary of what my book's about and how to qualify to get a free copy this week.
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This Week on ‘History. Culture. Trauma.’ podcast: Getting to Root Cause with C-PTSD Expert and Author Mary Giuliani
"It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD", a new book by PACEs Connection member Mary Giuiliani, launches next week. For a preview of what the longtime student of ACEs science, now PACEs science, shares in her revealing “teaching memoir”, tune into our ‘History. Culture. Trauma.’ podcast for a lively conversation between Giuilani and hosts Ingrid Cockhren and Mathew Portell this Thursday at 1 p.m. PT. In the book—chock-full of quotes from top experts on the...