A comprehensive analysis of publicly-funded home and community-based services (HCBS) in California using Medi-Cal, Medicare and state data to inform our understanding of these programs and their beneficiaries
Principal Investigator: Andrew Bindman, MD
Funding: The SCAN Foundation
Reports:
Service Use and Expenditures Before and After Entry into California’s LTSS Programs
California County Profiles of Medi-Cal Beneficiaries Who Use Long-Term Services and Supports in 2008 (pdf), County-specific data files
County-Specific Adult Long-Term Services and Support Users in California - Characteristics, Service Use, and Spending
Extended Nursing Facility Stays Among California's Dual Eligible and Medi-Cal Only Beneficiaries, 2006-2008
California's Medi-Cal Home & Community Based Services Waivers, Benefits & Eligibility Policies, 2005-2008
Studying Recipients of Long-Term Care Services and Supports: A Case Study in Assembling Medicaid and Medicare Claims and Assessment Data in California
Recipients of Home and Community-Based Services in California
Medicaid and Medicare Spending on Acute, Post-Acute and Long-Term Services and Supports in California
Medi-Cal Beneficiaries Who Use Long-Term Services and Supports: Profiles of Utilization and Spending in Eight Dual Eligible Integration Counties, 2008
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), working with CAMRI, collaborated with DHCS staff and other key stakeholders to provide a comprehensive analysis of publicly-funded home and community-based services (HCBS) administered by the Medi-Cal program. These services provide a broad range of health and social supports to individuals living in the community who qualify because they meet certain financial tests and state standards for physical or cognitive disabilities.
The scope of this research included integrating and linking several large Medi-Cal, Medicare and state data files. Investigators described participants by demographics and diagnoses and compared their profiles to their use of acute, behavioral, primary and long-term services and supports.
Overall, the evaluation aimed to contextualize the costs and benefits of HCBS utilization and better understand their service users. This project also identified opportunities to improve data systems to manage and monitor HCBS programs. Through intensive use of California state's data, CAMRI identified specific data systems and elements that are missing from existing data and those elements that need to be redefined or improved. CAMRI developed recommendations for improvements to monitoring service use, health status, and access through data.