The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is a division within the California Health and Human Services Agency that funds and administers certain individual health care programs, including Medi-Cal, which provides health care services to low-income people. Formerly known as the California Department of Health Services, it was reorganized into DHCS and the California Department of Public Health. On September 10, 2019, DHCS Director Jennifer Kent announced her resignation, effective September 30, 2019. On September 25, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsome appointed Richard Figueroa, Jr. as Director in functions. Will Lightburn was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsome and began serving as director on June 16, 2020. Michelle Bass was subsequently appointed director of DHCS by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 10, 2021, replacing the outgoing Will Lightburn.
Operations
- DHCS' "lack of information and ineffective action" puts beneficiary children at greater risk of dental disease.
- Only 43.9 percent of children enrolled in Dent-Cal had visited a dentist in the past year, twelfth worst among states reporting statistics.
- Reimbursement for the ten most common dental procedures was 35 percent of the national average and has not increased since the 2000-2001 fiscal year.
- Eleven California counties had no Denti-Cal providers or no providers willing to accept new pediatric patients covered by Denti-Cal: Del Norte, Tehama, Yuba, Sierra, Nevada, Amador, Calaveras, Alpine, Mariposa, Mono and Inyo.
- California may not have enough Dent-Cal participating dentists to serve millions of new Dent-Cal beneficiaries as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
- DHCS had failed to adequately oversee its administrative contractor, Denti-Cal, which "failed to conduct contractually required outreach activities to improve access to dental care in underserved areas."
- With 13 million children and adults enrolled, Dent-Cal is the largest state-sponsored dental insurance program.
- The private contractor running Denti-Cal is Delta Dental. In 2016, the State of California awarded Delta Dental a new contract to provide administrative services for the Dent-Cal program, continuing a 42-year relationship.
Controversies
- According to an October 2017 report, Medi-Cal Dental paid doctors only 30% of what it paid for the same procedures; Although DHCS must annually review reimbursement levels for Medi-Cal dental services to ensure “reasonable access” for Medi-Cal beneficiaries under Welfare and Institutions Code §14079
- In San Francisco, 61,440 children were enrolled in Denti-Cal in 2016, but only three pediatric dentists were accepting new patients as of March 2018; Similarly, only 15 dentists accepted new clients for more than 173,000 adult patients.
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