Last week, The SCAN Foundation and University of California, San Francisco released a fifth wave of survey data about the experiences of beneficiaries in Cal MediConnect (CMC) health plans. The data show that CMC enrollees continue to experience higher levels of satisfaction with their health care services than those not in a CMC plan. For the past two years, there has been a steady increase in CMC enrollees’ confidence with managing their health conditions and knowing where to seek help when they need it.
A large majority of CMC enrollees reported that they were satisfied with the health care services they were receiving in the seven areas tracked by the survey (ranging from 78 percent to 88 percent). Specifically, CMC enrollees reported being more satisfied than those who opted out of CMC with regard to access to providers, the amount of time spent with their providers, the coordination of their providers, and the information they receive from the health plans about benefits.
“These trends continue to show a positive beneficiary experience, highlighting how care coordination can deliver better outcomes in LTSS and deliver on the promise of Cal MediConnect,” said Jennifer Kent, Director of California Department of Health Care Services. “We will use this evaluation data to guide our work with the plans to strengthen and improve the Cal MediConnect program.”
Consistent with previous survey findings, CMC enrollees continue to be less satisfied with their choice of doctors than beneficiaries who opted out. The most commonly reported problem among CMC enrollees is that some doctors are not available through their CMC plan. Although this issue remains a challenge, the new data shows that enrollees reporting this problem decreased from 23 percent in 2015 to 18 percent in 2017.
The research also examined beneficiary needs for long-term services and supports (LTSS). Individuals in CMC counties reported lower rates of needing LTSS assistance compared to those in non-CMC counties. Notably for those with need, individuals in CMC counties received more IHSS hours than those in counties without CMC. Despite this positive trend in CMC counties, about 4 in 10 beneficiaries who use LTSS services report that they still have unmet personal or routine care needs.
This data is from the fifth wave of the Cal MediConnect Rapid Cycle Polling Project, a tracking survey funded by The SCAN Foundation to evaluate the experiences of beneficiaries enrolled in CMC over time. A sixth wave of polling will be conducted in 2018.
To learn more about this and other CCI evaluation efforts, visit: http://www.TheSCANFoundation.org/evaluating-medicare-medicaid-integration.
To learn more about Medicare-Medicaid integration evaluation efforts, visit https://calduals.org/background/cci/evaluations/