California Department of Health Care Services

Last updated
California Department of Health Care Services
Agency overview
Jurisdiction California
HeadquartersSacramento, California
Annual budget US$ 100 billion (2021-22)
Agency executive
  • Michelle Baass, Director (effective September 10, 2021)
Parent agency California Health and Human Services Agency
Website www.dhcs.ca.gov

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is a department within the California Health and Human Services Agency that finances and administers a number of individual health care service delivery programs, including Medi-Cal, which provides health care services to low-income people. It was formerly known as the California Department of Health Services, which was reorganized in 2007 into the DHCS and the California Department of Public Health. [1] On September 10, 2019, DHCS Director Jennifer Kent announced her resignation, effective September 30, 2019. [2] On September 25, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Richard Figueroa, Jr. as Acting Director. [3] Will Lightbourne was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom and began serving as Director on June 16, 2020. [4] Subsequently, Michelle Baass was appointed Director of DHCS by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 10, 2021, replacing the outgoing Will Lightbourne. [5]

Contents

Operations

A building occupied by the California Department of Health Care Services. California Department of Health Care Services 1.jpg
A building occupied by the California Department of Health Care Services.

A December 2014 audit of the DHCS's Medi-Cal dental care program (Denti-Cal) by the California State Auditor reported that:

DHCS had a budget of 144.8 Billion. Please correct this.


Uses complex sets of agreed procedures to conceal a burgeoning growth of administrative cost in the skilled nursing facility industry. Does not report expenditures composition to the public only total expenditures. Uses consultants and employees to lie that consolidated ownership in the skilled nursing facility cannot be proven.

11,000 patients died during COVID-19 in California skilled nursing facilities and they are not reported on a consolidated chain level.

Covers up any and all public data related to intermediate care facilities for the developmentally disabled by calling concealment procedures research.

Pre COVID-19 Re arranges peer grouping of nursing homes without posting to the public the probable effects in the long run utilizing a back room consultant.

Controversies

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medicaid</span> United States social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources

In the United States, Medicaid is a government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by state governments, which also have wide latitude in determining eligibility and benefits, but the federal government sets baseline standards for state Medicaid programs and provides a significant portion of their funding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Newsom</span> Governor of California since 2019

Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dental assistant</span> Medical profession

Dental assistants are members of the dental team. They support a dental operator in providing more efficient dental treatment. Dental assistants are distinguished from other groups of dental auxiliaries by differing training, roles and patient scopes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkeley Free Clinic</span> Free clinic in California, United States

The Berkeley Free Clinic is a non-profit community clinic located in Berkeley, California, US. It is operated as a worker-run collective by more than 100 volunteers. It has provided free medical care since opening in 1969.

The California Medical Assistance Program is the California implementation of the federal Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and childless adults with incomes below 138% of federal poverty level. Benefits include ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, dental (Denti-Cal), vision, and long-term care and support. Medi-Cal was created in 1965 by the California Medical Assistance Program a few months after the national legislation was passed. Approximately 15.28 million people were enrolled in Medi-Cal as of September 2022, or about 40% of California's population; in most counties, more than half of eligible residents were enrolled as of 2020.

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is a California state agency for many of the programs defined as part of the social safety net in the United States, and is within the auspices of the California Health and Human Services Agency. Federal and State funds for adoptions, the largest SNAP program in the country, CalWORKs program, foster care, aid for people with disabilities, family crisis counseling, subsistence payments to poor families with children, child welfare services and many other efforts are distributed through this department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthcare in Singapore</span> Healthcare in Singapore

Healthcare in Singapore is under the purview of the Ministry of Health of the Government of Singapore. It mainly consists of a government-run publicly funded universal healthcare system as well as a significant private healthcare sector. Financing of healthcare costs is done through a mixture of direct government subsidies, compulsory comprehensive savings, national healthcare insurance, and cost-sharing.

Healthy San Francisco is a health access program launched in 2007 to subsidize medical care for uninsured residents of San Francisco, California. The program's stated objective is to bring universal health care to the city. Healthy San Francisco is not a true insurance program, as it does not cover services such as dental and vision care, and only covers services received in the city and county of San Francisco. The program itself acknowledges its limitations, and has stated that "insurance is always a better choice." Healthy San Francisco represents the first time a local government has attempted to provide health insurance for all of its constituents. The program is open to low-income city residents over the age of 18 who do not qualify for other public coverage, and who have had no insurance for at least 90 days. Eligibility is not conditional on citizenship, immigration, employment or health status. The program covers a range of services, but only pays providers within San Francisco. By July 2010, almost 90% of the uninsured adults in San Francisco — over 50,000 people — had enrolled in Healthy San Francisco.

The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) is the state agency tasked with administration and oversight of "state and federal programs for health care, social services, public assistance and rehabilitation" in the U.S. state of California. The agency is headed by the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, with headquarters in Sacramento. Many of the laws in the California Health and Safety Codes are enforced by it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Health and Safety Code</span> U.S. state law

The California Health and Safety Code is the codification of general statutory law covering the subject areas of health and safety in the state of California. It is one of the 29 California Codes and was originally signed into law by the Governor of California on April 7, 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Department of Public Health</span> Public health department

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is the state department responsible for public health in California. It is a subdivision of the California Health and Human Services Agency. It enforces some of the laws in the California Health and Safety Codes, notably the licensing of some types of healthcare facilities. One of its functions is to oversee vital records operations throughout the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L.A. Care Health Plan</span>

The Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County is a public agency that provides health insurance for low-income individuals in Los Angeles County through four health coverage programs including Medi-Cal.

The California Children's Services (CCS) Program, established in 1927, is a partnership between state and counties that provides medical case management for children in California diagnosed with serious chronic diseases. It provides services to more than 165,000 children in California.

Welfare in California consists of federal welfare programs—which are often at least partially administered by state and county agencies—and several independent programs, which are usually administered by counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Government Operations Agency</span> California government agency

The Government Operations Agency (CalGovOps) is the California government agency responsible for administering state operations including procurement, real estate, information technology, and human resources. Amy Tong was appointed Secretary of Government Operations by Governor Gavin Newsom in March of 2022. Previously, the role was held by Secretary Yolanda Richardson and Secretary Marybel Batjer, who was appointed as the inaugural agency secretary in June 2013 by then-Governor Jerry Brown.

This article summarizes healthcare in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Wood (California politician)</span> American politician

Jim Wood is an American politician currently serving as Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly since November 2023. He is a Democrat representing the 2nd Assembly District, which encompasses all of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties, plus northern and coastal Sonoma County, including the northern half of Santa Rosa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partnership HealthPlan of California</span>

Partnership HealthPlan of California, is an independent, public/private organization serving over 950,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries in 24 northern California counties: Butte County, Colusa County, Del Norte County, Humboldt County, Glenn County, Lake County, Lassen County, Marin County, Mendocino County, Modoc County, Napa County, Nevada County, Placer County, Plumas County, Shasta County, Sierra County, Siskiyou County, Solano County, Sonoma County, Sutter County, Tehama County, Trinity County, Yolo County, Yuba County. It began operations as a County Organized Health System in 1994, and is currently the largest Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan in Northern California.

Western Dental & Orthodontics is a chain of dental offices based in Orange, California, United States. It was founded in 1903 in Los Angeles. Western Dental has almost 250 offices in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas, making it one of the largest dental service providers in the United States. Up to 70% of its California patients are covered under the state's Denti-Cal health insurance program for low-income families.

References

  1. https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/formsandpubs/Documents/MMCDAPLsandPolicyLetters/APL2007/MMCDAPL07011.pdf |date=November 28, 2023
  2. "California health official quits after blasting vaccine foes as 'flat-earthers' - SFChronicle.com". www.sfchronicle.com. 2019-09-10. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  3. "Governor Newsom Announces Appointments 9.25.19". California Governor. 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  4. "DHCS-Director-Biography". www.gov.ca.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  5. "Governor-Newsom-Announces-California-Health-and-Human-Services-Agency-Appointments". www.gov.ca.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  6. Little Hoover Commission (April 2016), Report #230: Fixing Denti-Cal, archived from the original on 2016-12-20, retrieved 2016-12-31
  7. "Delta Dental 2016 Annual Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  8. 1 2 "DHCS Medi-Cal Dental Services Rate Review by the Department of Health Care Services October 2017" (PDF).
  9. Denti-Cal provider referral list - San Francisco Mar 2018. "denti-cal.ca.gov" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-30. Retrieved 2018-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)