Jacey Cooper, California’s Medicaid Director,  gives us an on-the-ground look at California’s pathbreaking CalAIM initiative that pairs intensive care management with access to a broad range of social services. It’s been a year since the program launched and Jacey reflects on how much communication, coordination, planning and agility was needed to implement a program of this size and breadth. Claudia and Jacey talk about the opportunities and challenges as plans and providers navigate new benefits and participate in local housing, food, and community development conversations. 

We discuss: 

• Lessons learned from the first year of CalAIM including the need for more standardization of social care benefits 

• More details about the first-of-its-kind Justice Initiative which provides pre-release Medicaid services to people in jail and prison

• Behavioral health redesign, payment reform, transitions of care, and administrative integration of mental health and substance use disorder services

Jacey says whole person care is truly a community effort: 

“As a collective force, we're making sure that plans are adapted to work with community-based organizations that have been championing these efforts for years. This is why we're focusing on embedding ourselves in the different aspects of care continuums - like housing and homelessness - within our local groups. We have to be present to have a voice in the decision-making, planning, and connection of individuals to vital services. It's not just about navigating people to housing, but ensuring they're connected to voucher programs too.”