Buffy Wicks

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions.

Existing law, subject to implementation of the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, authorizes a Medi-Cal managed care plan to elect to cover community supports approved by the department as cost effective and medically appropriate in a comprehensive risk contract that are in lieu of applicable Medi-Cal state plan services. Under existing law, community supports that the department is authorized to approve include, among other things, housing transition navigation services, housing deposits, and housing tenancy sustaining services.

Existing law, subject to an appropriation, requires the department to complete an independent analysis to determine whether network adequacy exists to obtain federal approval for a covered Medi-Cal benefit that provides housing support services. Existing law requires that the analysis take into consideration specified information, including the number of providers in relation to each region's or county's number of people experiencing homelessness. Existing law requires the department to report the outcomes of the analysis to the Legislature by January 1, 2024.

This bill would delete the requirement for the department to complete that analysis, and instead would make housing support services for specified populations a covered Medi-Cal benefit when the Legislature has made an appropriation for purposes of the housing support services. The bill would require the department to seek federal approval for the housing support services benefit, as specified. Under the bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, a Medi-Cal beneficiary would be eligible for those services if they either experience homelessness or are at risk of homelessness. Under the bill, the services would include housing transition navigation services, housing deposits, and housing tenancy sustaining services, as defined.

The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific this section, in whole or in part, by means of all-county letters, plan letters, provider bulletins, information notices, or similar instruction, and to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts for its purposes, as specified. The bill would authorize these provisions to be modified by the department to the extent necessary to meet the requirements of federal law or regulations, to obtain federal approval, or to enhance the probability that federal approval can be obtained, as specified.