REPORT: How Medi-Cal Expanded Substance Use Treatment and Access to Care

August 2020

Launched in 2015, the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS) is nation’s first Medicaid Section 1115 waiver to expand access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services. The program aims to provide organized and comprehensive SUD care for Medi-Cal enrollees, while reducing overall health care costs.

With support from the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), Aurrera Health Group authored a new report exploring counties’ experiences implementing DMC-ODS – How Medi-Cal Expanded Substance Use Treatment and Access to Care. This report is a follow up to a 2018 paper about early lessons in DMC-ODS – Medi-Cal Moves Addiction Treatment into the Mainstream. For this paper, the authors interviewed county substance use disorder program administrators and behavioral health directors in nine counties representing various population sizes and geographic areas throughout the state. The authors also referenced the University of California, Los Angeles, annual evaluation of the program and the External Quality Review report.

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