As California’s new program to screen Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences (which are termed “ACEs”) gets underway, experts at UC San Francisco are trying to ensure that the adults and children who report trauma get the help they need.
Experts now believe it’s most effective to treat the whole family when traumas occur. But any successful program would need to overcome fragmented payment systems, which usually dictate separate and poorly coordinated care for children and adults. So, with funding from Genentech, the UCSF researchers plan to develop a “Whole Family Wellness” intervention that integrates resources from Medi-Cal clinics with outside agencies and test it over a three-year period.
Using a hub-and-spoke model, the intervention would employ a family care manager to ensure coordination between Whole Family Wellness Hubs within Medi-Cal clinics, and affiliated “spoke” agencies, such as community-based organizations and adult physical and behavioral health services, as well as housing, legal, and other social supports. The hubs would also offer programs to promote mental and behavioral health for the whole family.
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