Newsom Administration Renames CalAIM Initiative

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) on Wednesday announced that is has renamed the multi-year reform initiative aimed at improving the health outcomes and quality of life for California’s population in Medi-Cal. Recall, DHCS released its formal proposal to incorporate several state innovations that have been successfully tested through California’s federal 1115 waivers at the end of October 2019, referred to as “California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal” or “CalAIM.”

The broad-based effort to transform the Medi-Cal delivery system, program, and payment structure will now be known as “Medi-Cal Healthier California for All.” According to DHCS, the change reflects the initiative’s alignment with Governor Gavin Newsom’s platform to build a “California for All,” as well as the long history and public familiarity with the Medi-Cal name.

Online references to the initiative on DHCS’ website have been updated to reflect the new name and existing bookmarks and webpages that include the old terminology will be automatically redirected to the updated pages. Additional information on the initiative is available here.