On January 1, 2022, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) will be transitioning all Medi-Cal pharmacy services from managed care to fee for service, referred to as the “Medi-Cal Rx” initiative. Medi-Cal Rx is aimed at improving health care delivery by standardizing the Medi-Cal pharmacy benefit under one delivery system and improving access to pharmacy services with a network that includes a large majority of the state’s pharmacies. Medi-Cal Rx will also apply statewide utilization management protocols to all outpatient drugs.

Under the Medi-Cal Rx program, most physicians who write prescriptions for Medi-Cal or Medi-Cal managed care patients will use a new secure portal for key prescribing functions, such as:

• Prior authorization information and instructions
• Beneficiary eligibility look up
• Claims submission, activities and inquiries

The California Medical Association (CMA) and DHCS are hosting a free webinar on Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 12:15 p.m. about the Medi-Cal Rx transition. The webinar will address:

• What’s changing
• What’s staying the same
• How to sign up to use the new portal
• Where to go to learn more about Medi-Cal Rx

The one-hour webinar is free to all interested parties. Click here to register.