California Grants Conditional Approval To 17 Counties To Opt-Out Of Upcoming Medicaid MCO Procurement

On December 7, 2021, the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) granted conditional approval to 17 counties to opt out of an upcoming statewide Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) procurement slated to take place later in 2022. The counties had applied to transition to a single Medicaid plan model, a County Organized Health System (COHS) model or a two-plan local initiative model as an alternative to being included in the statewide procurement. The conditional approval allows the county and manage care plan to move to the plan operational readiness assessment, which is next phase in the managed care plan . . .