Medi-Cal: enhanced care management and community supports

The law sets clearer standards, public reporting, and update procedures for services that connect high-need Medi-Cal members with health care, housing, food, and other supports.

What the law does ​

• Defines enhanced care management as community-based, intensive coordination and whole-person care for eligible managed-care members.
• Requires the State Department of Health Care Services to publish model community-support policies, provide plan assistance, engage stakeholders, and use a regular public update process.
• Requires managed care plans to adopt community-support policies, disclose available supports, and train in-network community-support providers.
• Requires annual public reports and, where feasible, quarterly online data on enhanced care management and community-support use, populations served, and demographics through 2031.
• Requires the department to report by March 31, 2029, on costs, effectiveness, and provider availability to inform whether community supports should become required Medi-Cal benefits.

Who it affects ​

• Medi-Cal managed-care members with complex health or social needs, including people experiencing homelessness, people leaving incarceration, nursing-facility residents, and people with serious behavioral-health needs.
• Medi-Cal managed care plans and their community-support providers.
• Community organizations providing housing navigation, medical respite, nutrition, home modifications, and other approved supports.

Context ​

Community supports remain optional for managed care plans when approved by the department as cost-effective and medically appropriate alternatives to covered services.