In 2022, as a result of advocacy led by RAMP and partners, Medi-Cal – California’s Medicaid system – adopted two nationally-leading policies to increase access to asthma home visiting services for low-income Californians with poorly controlled asthma. Now, our attention has shifted to ensure those policies are implemented as effectively as possible.
What are the policies?
The Asthma Preventive Services Benefit covers clinic- and home-based asthma self-management education and in-home environmental trigger assessments provided by non-licensed professionals such as Community Health Workers, promotoras, and other individuals meeting specified qualifications. For more information, see this fact sheet.
Asthma Remediation under Community Supports allows Medi-Cal managed care plans (MCPs) to use Medicaid funding to pay for home trigger remediation for people with poorly controlled asthma. For more information, see our factsheet.
With these policies in place, California is a national leader in providing comprehensive asthma home visiting services, which improve health outcomes, reduce health care utilization costs, and reduce asthma disparities.
What is RAMP doing now?
As thrilled as we are about the adoption of the policies, we’re also committed to ensuring they’re implemented as effectively as possible. What does that look like?
We continue to offer free Technical Assistance directly to asthma home visiting programs, managed care plans, and others interested in advancing asthma home visiting services. Please see our description of TA services for more information.
We continue to develop new tools to assist the asthma home visiting field in taking advantage of these new policies. For instance, recently we published Quick Guide: Accessing New Medi-Cal Policies for Asthma Home Visiting Programs. This tool is designed to help asthma home visiting programs navigate the process for taking advantage of these Medi-Cal policies.
We continue to engage asthma stakeholders and managed care plans to identify and address implementation challenges. For example, with feedback from a wide range of partners, we recently submitted these recommendations for streamlining the medical provider authorization process for Asthma Remediation under Community Supports.
Do you have questions or would you like to learn more? Contact us!
