Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides that specialty mental health services are covered under the Medi-Cal program for eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries, including both adults and children, and coverage for those services is provided through mental health managed care plans. Existing law requires the department to develop a performance outcome system for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment mental health services provided to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age.

This bill would require the department, commencing no later than January 15, 2018, and as needed thereafter, in consultation with specified stakeholders, to inform the updates to, and build upon, the performance outcomes system reports for specialty mental health services developed for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment mental health services provided to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age and under the Special Terms and Conditions of the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services Waiver in order to provide data to inform strategies to reduce mental health disparities for specialty mental health services provided to all eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The bill would require the department to consider specified objectives, including high-quality, culturally and linguistically competent, and accessible specialty mental health services for all eligible beneficiaries, in building upon the performance outcomes reports for specialty mental health services, and would require the performance outcomes report for specialty mental health services to be produced using existing data collected by the state, stratified at statewide and county levels and by specified data elements in certain areas, including, among others, access and quality.

This bill would require the department to publish, by December 31, 2018, the performance outcomes reports based on available data for specialty mental health services on the department’s Internet Web site, and to provide the performance outcomes reports to the Legislature by December 31, 2018. The bill would require the department, commencing January 1, 2019, and on an as-needed basis thereafter, to consult with specified stakeholders to incorporate additional components into the performance outcomes reports and to make recommendations for statewide quality improvement and efforts to reduce mental health disparities, as specified. The bill, commencing January 1, 2019, and annually thereafter, would require the department to update the performance outcomes reports for specialty mental health services and to post the updated reports on the department’s Internet Web site. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the requirements of the bill by all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions.