© 2023 First 5 Center for Children’s Policy. All rights reserved.
Blog Post
Kathryn Margolis • Nov 10, 2022
California has created a dyadic services Medi-Cal benefit effective January 2023. The dyadic services benefit allows Medi-Cal to cover behavioral health wellness visits that focus on the individual child and their surrounding environment, including caregiver wellness, all within the context of the child’s medical appointment.
Blog Post
Alexandra Parma • Jul 14, 2022
New data released from the Department of Health Care Services shows how children in Medi-Cal managed care fared in 2020, and just how far we will need to increase preventive service delivery to ensure children receive all the benefits to which they are entitled.
Blog Post
Alexandra Parma • Apr 8, 2022
The State of California has embarked on multiple efforts over the last few years to transform the way health care is delivered in the Medi-Cal program. These efforts illustrate Governor Newsom’s larger vision for reform, including those that hold promise to improve outcomes for children.
Blog Post
Alexandra Parma • Sep 15, 2021
The First 5 Center, First 5 Association, and our partners listed below recently submitted stakeholder comments to inform California’s definition of the new Community Health Workers benefit.
Blog Post
Pradeep Gidwani, MD • Ruth P. Newton, PhD • Sep 8, 2021
Individual therapy approaches cannot capture the complexity involved as parent, baby, their relationship, their family system, and the culture they are in, all interact. Dyadic therapy, where parent and infant/young child are treated together, addresses all levels of these interacting factors.
Blog Post
Sarah Crow • Jul 19, 2021
Among the many important investments in this year’s state budget, California’s new dyadic care benefit in the Medi-Cal program is particularly significant.
Blog Post
Kathryn Margolis • Jun 9, 2021
Dyadic care models like HealthySteps provide important support to families with young children. Such care is particularly important in this pandemic- recovery time, which exacerbated mental health concerns, family stress, isolation, and income insecurity, particularly for BIPOC families who already face health inequity due to structural racism and oppression.
Blog Post
Sarah Crow • Christina Altmayer • Mar 30, 2021
Revamping Medicaid policies to improve young children’s social and emotional health and address health care inequities is particularly critical in California, where over half of children ages 0 to 5 have Medicaid coverage (known as Medi-Cal, in California), and two-thirds are children of color.
Blog Post
Sarah Crow • Mar 29, 2021
The time to prepare is now. California can take several steps to address mental and behavioral health concerns of young children ages 0 to 5, their parents, and child care providers over the next year to reduce adverse childhood experiences and build resilience.
Blog Post
Alexandra Parma • Mar 25, 2021
California’s children covered by Medi-Cal Managed Care received alarmingly low levels of recommended preventive care in 2019, according to data newly released by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
© 2023 First 5 Center for Children’s Policy. All rights reserved.