Collectively, Medicaid programs are the largest insurer of births in the U.S., covering 42 percent of all births. California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, pays for more than 50 percent of births in the state. With new budget initiatives, a California Momnibus Act, and a Medicaid transformation initiative called California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), the state is seeking to improve maternity care and birth outcomes with a focus on promoting whole-person care.

This Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) webinar, made possible by the California Health Care Foundation, provided an overview of California’s new initiatives to transform maternity care throughout the state. The webinar described how CalAIM and California 2022-2023 budget provisions enable more whole-person care for pregnant and birthing people, with a look at initiatives underway through Medi-Cal and the California Department of Health Care Services.

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Agenda 

I. Welcome and Introduction 

Speakers: Priti Khanal and Diana Crumley, Senior Program Officers, CHCS

II. California’s Maternity Care Policy Updates

Speakers: Priti Khanal and Diana Crumley

D. Crumley and P. Khanal presented on updates from California’s 2022-2023 budget provisions and CalAIM initiatives that have the potential to impact maternity care. The presentation included new policies under SB 65 (aka, California Momnibus), as well as policies under eligibility expansion, new benefits, delivery system reform, and new programs focused on improving maternity care. The presentation also highlighted California’s efforts to expand and protect access to reproductive health care, including abortion care services, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

III. Moderated Q&A