In February 2023, the California Department of Health Services (DHCS) announced that Medi-Cal Medi-Cal Medi-Cal Announced the launch of the Membership Advisory Committee (MMAC). Formulation of DHCS policies and programs.
Historically, Medi-Cal’s Managed Care Plans (MCPs) are required to maintain a Regional Advisory Committee (CAC) to inform their cultural and language services programs. To inform the design of the MMAC, the Center for Healthcare Strategies sent questionnaires to all 23 MCPs in the state to understand their practices, learn from their experiences, and identify promising approaches. This report presents survey results from the 14 MCPs who responded.
Key findings include:
configuration and size. It is important to ensure that the composition of the CAC reflects the Medi-Cal population and that the group is of a manageable size. CAC members represent Medi-Cal registrants from a variety of backgrounds, locations, and experiences. The CAC group size ranges from 4 to 185. CAC group sizes vary by geographic region, county, and health care plan.
Hiring, Onboarding, Term Limits. MCPs need a multi-pronged approach to effectively recruit Medi-Cal registrants for participation in CAC. Plans reported included (1) direct outreach through registrants and providers and community partners, (2) presentations to community-based partners, (3) member handbooks, (4) Medi-Cal member newsletters and and/or direct mail; (5) the MCP website and social media; and (6) referrals by current CAC members.
- compensation. All responding MCPs will compensate participating CAC members. Benefit payments were the most common method of coverage for Medicare members (71%) among the medical plans surveyed, followed by travel/mileage refunds (50%) and gift cards and meals (50%). 43%).
- conference structure. Consistency in meeting format, length, and frequency goes a long way in supporting members and meeting their needs. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, CAC has focused on virtual meetings only or a combination of face-to-face and virtual meetings.
- Facilitate and support meetings. Meeting materials must be easy to understand, free of jargon and abbreviations, written at a 6th grade reading level to ensure readability, and translated into the first language of the CAC members. Of her MCPs who responded, 86% shared meeting materials that were accessible to her at least one week before the meeting, and 93% had staff available to discuss questions and concerns prior to each meeting.
- Building trust. MCPs recognize the need to earn the trust of CAC participants. There are many ways to build trust quickly and strengthen it over time. The MCP communicated the importance of building meaningful relationships, setting ground rules, and respecting members’ voices as integral to their approach.
As a companion report, Medi-Cal Membership Advisory Committee: Design Recommendations for California Department of Health Servicespresents the results of a landscape assessment and literature review of other types of CAC experiences in California and other states, as well as recommendations for the design of MMACs.
About the author
Madeleine Steward, MPH, CAPMis the program officer. Courtney Roman, Massachusetts, Senior Program Officer.and Kelly Church, MPHis a Program Associate at the Center for Health Care Strategies. The Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) is a policy design and implementation partner dedicated to improving care outcomes for people enrolled in Medicaid. CHCS supports cross-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary partners to enable more effective, efficient and equitable care for millions of people across the country.
