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Medi-Cal behavioral health services: demand exceeds supply despite expansions
Medi-Cal behavioral health services: demand exceeds supply despite expansions
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- California health care almanac (California HealthCare Foundation)
- Author(s):
- Finocchio, Len, author
Newman, Matthew, author
Paci, James, author
Davis, Caroline, author
Yegian, Jill, author - Contributor(s):
- California HealthCare Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Oakland, CA : California Health Care Foundation, September 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Behavioral Medicine
Medicare
Mental Health Services
California
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Across California, people seeking treatment for mental health conditions and substance use disorders often face limited access to care. While access is a problem statewide, behavioral health care needs are more intense in lower income regions, such as Humboldt/Del Norte and the San Joaquin Valley, where people are much more likely to experience drug-related hospitalizations, suicide, and self-reported mental distress than statewide averages. Moreover, many regions, particularly in rural California, also suffer from significant shortages of behavioral health professionals. The California Health Care Foundation’s longitudinal Regional Markets Study of seven California health care markets — Humboldt/Del Norte, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Sacramento Area, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, and San Joaquin Valley — provided a unique opportunity to examine behavioral health care across California, including variation across regions in behavioral health needs, access to care and workforce shortages. (For definitions of the regions and study methodology, see “Background on Regional Markets Study” box on page 20.) This paper examines behavioral health needs in California broadly and assesses access challenges to behavioral services for Medi-Cal enrollees. The paper explores factors contributing to these access issues, including workforce shortages, the complexity of the Medi-Cal system for behavioral health services, and capacity gaps within different levels of care. Finally, this paper highlights some efforts underway to improve and integrate behavioral health services for Medi-Cal enrollees.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (19 pages, 1 unnumbered page))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918366981706676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918366981706676