Report 2018-122 Recommendation 11 Responses

Report 2018-122: Department of Health Care Services: It Has Not Ensured That Medi-Cal Beneficiaries in Some Rural Counties Have Reasonable Access to Care (Release Date: August 2019)

Recommendation #11 To: Health Care Services, Department of

To ensure that it makes informed decisions regarding the extension or renewal of its contracts with managed care health plans, DHCS should immediately begin the practice of requesting annual feedback from the counties that the health plans serve and of using that feedback in its decision-making process.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

DHCS has updated the implementation plan for Recommendation 11. In prior responses, DHCS had not yet released the DRAFT Request for Proposal (RFP) for Stakeholder feedback. Based on the DRAFT RFP feedback, DHCS is committing to implementing a 60 month contract term for MCP. Based on the 60 month contract term, it is the intent of the DHCS to include the updated Managed Care Plan contract as part of that RFP process and associated procurement activities. During the RFP process counties, stakeholders, advocates, etc. are able to provide feedback on the MCP contract.

DHCS will continue to work closely with MCP's through our contract amendment process and will continue to post the MCP boilerplate contract on the DHCS website. Additionally, DHCS is committed to meeting with Stakeholder groups and Advocates as requested to have listening sessions with them to hear feedback and address questions based on the MCP contracts. Information gathered from these listening sessions will be taken into consideration for future contract amendments.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Will Not Implement


Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020

DHCS' response is unchanged. DHCS agrees to implement a practice of requesting annual feedback from the counties the health plans serve and use the feedback in decision-making processes when extending or re-procuring health plan contracts. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and associated impacts to workload and priorities within DHCS, the estimated implementation date has been adjusted to December 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending


1-Year Agency Response

DHCS agrees to implement a practice of requesting annual feedback from the counties the health plans serve and use the feedback in decision-making processes when extending or re-procuring health plan contracts. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and associated impacts to workload and priorities within the Department, the estimated implementation date has been adjusted to December 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending


6-Month Agency Response

DHCS agrees to implement a practice of requesting annual feedback from the counties that the health plans serve and use that feedback in its decision-making process when extending or re-procuring health plan contracts. DHCS will provide further details by July 2020 as to the process for providing feedback.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending


60-Day Agency Response

DHCS agrees to implement a practice of requesting annual feedback from the counties that the health plans serve and use that feedback in its decision-making process when extending or re-procuring health plan contracts.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending


All Recommendations in 2018-122

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.