The former Medicaid leader for the CA Department of Health Care Services Jacey Cooper discusses the creation of the CalAIM initiative what she sees as the future of services like Enhanced Care Management, Community Supports, and more.

Blue Shield of California's Julianne Holloway joins host Gavin Ward to help explain the often conplex world of DSNP, or Duals Special Needs Plans, for individuals that qualify for both Medi-Cal (known as Medicaid Nationally) and Medicare

Pair Team VP Megan Carlson shares how her background in building care navigation systems (e.g. Unite Us) has equipped her to help Pair team enable existing organizations to launch enhanced care management services. Pair Team is now one of the largest ECM organizations on California.

Ryan Iwamoto, Executive Producer of PopHealth Podcast and Co-Founder of 24 Hour Home Care, joins the show to look back on 10 years of the podcast and some of his favorite memories as he reminisces with host Gavin Ward.

Charles returns to the show, touching on his past as a soccer coach before sharing the realities health plans are facing in California. Charles also shares with host Gavin Ward about the upcoming fall CAHP conference, including how leaders from health plans, providers, and DHCS will be attending to present as well as network.

Former DHCS leader Athena Chapman, President of Chapman Consulting, and Chapman's VP Elizabeth Evenson join host Gavin Ward to give an update on Medi-Cal Transformation/CalAIM, including touching on the 2024 annual report recently released by DHCS on Community Supports.

Health Net's Regional Medical Director Dr. Anshul Dixit and Vivant Health's Utilization Management Review Supervisor Kathleen Loredo share how they partner together with Dignity Health's greater Sacramento hospitals, including one recent effort that reduced unnecessary hospital stays by 400 while increasing provider show up rates by 20% after discharge.

Lisa Ramsey, a former Medi-Cal worker who created Medi-Cal Consulting Services, joins the show to share about updates on Medi-Cal eligibility, including reminders about some often misunderstood limits on income requirements.

Chrisina Mills, a leading advocate for the disability community, was recently appointed to serve as the Executive Director for the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging. Christina, who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta (bones can easily break), has led a 25 year career in advocacy for the disabled community and looks forward to supporting older adults with initiatives that often align with both the aging and disability communities.

California Department of Health Care Services' Joanna Allboe joins the show to share about the continued evolution of California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM)/Medi-Cal transformation as well as how managed care organizations (MCOs) will start to be measured in 2025 and beyond.