Trainings began in March for contractors. A training series for both BHRS staff and contractors will begin in June! Continue reading for more information, including the training schedule, below.

CalAIM has new contract language requirements that have changed the way we create contracts. AOD Contracts with new CalAIM verbiage have been completed and started going out to AOD contracted providers last week. Shout out to AOD and Contracts team for all your hard work!

As a reminder, the Justice-Involved Initiative allows eligible Californians who are incarcerated to enroll in Medi-Cal and receive a targeted set of services in the 90 days before their release. This initiative aims to ensure continuity of health care coverage and services between the time they are incarcerated and when they are released. It also provides people who are reentering the community with the prescribed medications and durable medical equipment (DME) they need, and access to programs and services to support this important transition.

At BHRS,

• The readiness assessment budget and implementation plan were submitted to DHCS on March 27. These materials ensure we will receive grant funding.
• A workgroup is forming to create a workflow for referrals from Correctional Health Services to BHRS clinics.

For more information on the Justice-Involved Initiative, check out the February CalAIM Corner!

BHRS is developing the CalAIM Contractor Quality Improvement Program (CQIP), an incentive program for our contractors to implement CalAIM initiatives. It will begin on June 1, 2024. This incentive payment program will support Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder contracted providers as they prepare for changes in CalAIM implementation. The CQIP guidance is focused on implementation of payment reform, behavioral health policy changes and bi-directional data exchange between systems of care for the purpose of improving quality and behavioral health outcomes and care coordination for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Each entity can earn incentive payments in the CalAIM CQIP by achieving certain milestones that are currently being determined.

The Assessment Redesign Workgroup, an off-shoot of the CalAIM Workgroup, is currently working on updating the Assessment with the new CalAIM requirements. These updates will be used for all assessments and reassessments.