YouTube video

Braiding different funding streams is a promising strategy for health care and social service organizations to maximize funding, enabling them to deliver integrated services for people with multiple health and social needs. In California, under the state’s CalAIM initiative to transform Medicaid, organizations have an opportunity to braid funds from different sources to provide sustainable person-centered care.

To braid funds, an organization brings funding from various sources together to support a common goal, while allowing each funding source to maintain its specific identity. Each funding source can be independently tracked throughout the entire process, from planning to service delivery, reimbursement, and reporting. Organizations typically braid funds to fill gaps in services, expand service offerings, and increase program and staff capacity. Braiding funds can be administratively challenging because organizations must ensure that each funding source is used according to its specific rules and limitations. Furthermore, federal and state laws prohibiting ‘supplantation’ add another layer of complexity. Supplantation occurs when an existing, continuous funding stream is replaced by a new funding source to deliver the same service.

This webinar, made possible by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), featured two community-based organizations explaining how they braid funding streams within and outside Medi-Cal* to deliver integrated whole-person care and the strategies they use to mitigate the risks of braiding.


* Note: At the time of this webinar, the California Department of Health Care Services had not issued guidance on how providers need to document the use of braided funds.

Agenda

I. Welcome and Introduction

Speakers: Tuyen Tran, MPH, Senior Program Officer, Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), and Melora Simon, MPH, Associate Director of People-Centered Care, CHCF

T. Tran and M. Simon provided opening remarks.

II. Arcata House Partnership

Speakers: Darlene A. Spoor, EdD, Executive Director, and Virginia Beckman, MPA, Consultant, Arcata House Partnership

D. Spoor and V. Beckman provided an overview of Arcata House Partnership’s approach to braiding Medi-Cal and non-Medi-Cal funds to provide CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports. They discussed their strategies to mitigate risks related to braiding.

III. Community Health Center Network

Speakers: Hallie Roth, MPH, Population Health and Quality Improvement Manager, and Khush Grewal, MD, Medical Director, Community Health Center Network (CHCN)

H. Roth and K. Grewal discussed how CHCN braids funds for its care transition nursing program. They shared how braiding multiple funding sources allow CHCN to increase program capacity.

IV. Moderated Q&A 

Moderator: T. Tran, CHCS

T. Tran moderated a Q&A discussion on how braiding Medi-Cal and non-Medi-Cal funds can support integral programs for health care and social service organizations, as well as how the risks of braiding can be mitigated.

V. Closing

Speaker: T. Tran, CHCS