Medi-Cal: specialty mental health services and substance use disorder treatment.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, 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 provides for various benefits under the Medi-Cal program, including substance use disorder treatment and mental health services that are delivered through the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program, the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system, and the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services Program. This bill would require the department to engage, commencing no later than January 15, 2020, in a stakeholder process to develop recommendations for addressing legal and administrative barriers to the delivery of integrated behavioral health services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries with cooccurring substance use disorders and mental health conditions who access services through the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program, the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system, and the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services Program. The bill would require the stakeholder group to include specified individuals, such as behavioral health subject-matter experts and representatives from county behavioral health departments, and would require the stakeholder group to complete various tasks, including reviewing departmental policies and procedures on the department's implementation and operation of administrative and oversight responsibilities for the 3 programs and reporting recommendations to the Legislature by September 15, 2020. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2021.