Center awarded contract to evaluate California's Medi-Cal redesign program

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has received a five-year contract from The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to evaluate the Public Hospital Redesign and Incentives in Medi-Cal (PRIME) Program. Nadereh Pourat, Director of Research at the Center, will lead the evaluation project.   PRIME is a five-year, $3.7 billion demonstration project under the Medi-Cal 2020 Section 1115 Waiver aimed at promoting access to and improving the health of patients at public, municipal and district hospitals in California. These hospitals will put in place health improvement projects such as integration of physical and behavioral health care, transition from hospitalization to home health and other post-acute services, obesity prevention, cancer screening and follow-up care. Medi-Cal is California's version of Medicaid.   The evaluation will assess the impact of PRIME on quality of care, health outcomes and costs under Medi-Cal as well as the impact of value-based payment models and sustainability of the health delivery redesign achieved by PRIME projects. Evaluation activities include interviews and surveys with participating hospitals as well as analyses of available data.   PRIME follows a previous demonstration called Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) under the Bridge to Reform Section 1115 Waiver, which was also evaluated by the Center with Pourat as the lead evaluator.   "These demonstrations have and continue to play a pivotal role in improving the capacity of crucial safety net providers that provide care to populations who are threatened with loss of coverage if ACA is repealed," said Pourat. "The ability of Medi-Cal to continue to provide care to those insured under the ACA depends on improvements in care delivery." The PRIME demonstration runs through December 31, 2020.

About the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR improves the public’s health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. UCLA CHPR is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. For more information, visit healthpolicy.ucla.edu.