With so many changes in Medi-Cal services and reimbursement rates, the state has been working on a system to constantly update and alert physicians, nurses and other providers about the latest wrinkles in Medi-Cal administration.
“We’ve never offered this before,” said Dan Nand, web content lead at Xerox State Healthcare, which is working with the state Department of Health Care Services on the updating project. “Providers have never had a chance to do this before. Now they’ll be able to read all of the announcements by desktop, or by mobile phones.”
The idea is to have a series of networks, like an advanced kind of listserv system, Nand said, in which providers can sign up for specific specialty areas, such as acupuncture or long-term care.
“We have it broken down into 27 different provider communities,” he said. “We have a monthly bulletin cycle, so every month we update the manuals and we have news articles that sum up the latest information.”
Health care providers usually don’t have the time to go to the website for Medi-Cal updates, Nand said, and currently that has been one of the main ways to keep up with the department.
“This works better,” he said. “And so far, the stakeholders, the provider associations, they all like this better. It’s a more organized approach to that stakeholder process.” Tests of the system have gone well, Nand said, and now DHCS just needs to sign off on the project to get it going, he said.
DHCS officials declined to comment.
Nand said it’s important to reach the types of devices people use most often, such as email and mobile apps.
“As we venture out into the future, we want to align ourselves with the technical changes people are making,” he said. “If docs and nurses are up to date on all of the Medi-Cal changes, then there’s less chance of submitting claims and having those claims denied because of filling out forms incorrectly. It could save a lot of grief.”
The system could be online and operational by the end of the year, Nand said.