The following success story describes experiences across multiple Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) initiatives.
MedZed Physician Services, Inc. is an Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports provider serving individuals experiencing housing insecurities in Culver City. A participant across multiple PATH initiatives, Medzed is leveraging funding and technical assistance opportunities to develop and expand its ECM and Community Supports programs:
- PATH Capacity and Infrastructure Transition, Expansion, and Development (CITED) funding is helping MedZed accelerate the buildout of their Community Health Navigator workforce and enhance their care management documentation system.
- Through free PATH Technical Assistance (TA) Marketplace services, MedZed is accessing the tools needed to improve their population health management IT capabilities.
- As a PATH Collaborative Planning and Implementation (CPI) participant in multiple collaboratives across California, MedZed is building relationships and learning best practices for participating in the Medi-Cal transformation.
The following story exemplifies the on-the-ground impacts of MedZed’s Community Health Navigator workforce and how one of their housing navigators supported and empowered a member to secure affordable permanent housing.
When a MedZed housing navigator first met Enrique, he was homeless. She enrolled him in MedZed’s Housing Transition Navigation Services (HTNS) program and provided him with shelter resources and guidance on requesting motel vouchers. He was soon placed in a motel and connected to the Serving Seniors program. He did not qualify yet for the program, as he needed to be age 62, but with the help of his housing navigator, he started filling out his application.
The housing navigator got to know Enrique and learned he had several chronic health issues, including diabetes, asthma, and hypertension, as well as issues with accessing food and clothing. She assessed his situation and connected him to a MedZed community health navigator, who enrolled him in ECM to help with his health-related needs and arranged medical appointments. The MedZed team communicated regularly to make sure all of his needs were met.
On his 62nd birthday, Enrique moved forward with the enrollment and qualification process for Serving Seniors. He met regularly with his housing navigator to make sure he was filling out the paperwork correctly and submitting everything on time. He was granted a studio apartment and received funding for the deposit.
“I knew that his journey didn’t end there,” the housing navigator said. “My job is to help him access different resources, both for right now and also for a good future.”
She transitioned him to MedZed’s Housing Tenancy & Sustaining Services (HTSS) program and continued to search for other programs for rental and financial assistance, including for utilities.
“It is his job to follow up on leads and take the right steps, but I’m there to support him in making a change.”
She has connected him to transportation, accompanied him to appointments, provided translation services, and coached him before interviews.
Enrique was accepted into a pilot program for older adults that will pay his rent for 18 months and provide advocacy assistance. Now he lives in his own studio apartment close to his clinic, a food bank, and public transportation.
Enrique is grateful for his housing navigator and the support he’s received along the way: “She has been an ally and a guardian angel. Now I am happier and have a place of my own to sleep, and my health is better.”
Have you joined your local network of CalAIM stakeholders working together to implement quality Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports services for members?
Have you applied for funding to support your organization’s workforce, vendor contracting, IT, community assessment and other Medi-Cal needs necessary to deliver ECM and Community Supports?
Would free coding and billing, client outreach and enrollment, program development, CalAIM implementation and monitoring, and other technical assistance services help your organization meet its Medi-Cal needs?