April 29, 2024
Orange County Business Council President and CEO Jeff Ball sat down with Michael Hunn, CEO of CalOptima Health, for the first in a four-part Q&A series about the health organization’s role in keeping Orange County healthy.
Ball: Let’s start with the basics. What is CalOptima Health and who do you serve?
Hunn: CalOptima Health is Orange County’s Medi-Cal health insurance plan. We serve nearly one million low-income residents in our community. Business leaders are often surprised to learn that almost one in three people in Orange County lives at or near the poverty level. CalOptima Health was created by local stakeholders in 1993, in response to the community’s need for a better system of care for Medi-Cal members. Our Board of Directors is appointed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, but we are not a county agency.
Ball: What services does CalOptima Health provide?
Hunn: Members receive comprehensive health care coverage, much the same as you and I receive from our employer-sponsored health insurance plans. This includes primary and emergency care, preventive health care screenings, behavioral health, long-term care and more. The most exciting services we provide are some of our newest, based on California’s transformation of Medi-Cal into serving the whole person with benefits delivered outside of traditional health care settings. For the past year or so, CalOptima Health has been offering our most vulnerable members help with housing services, medically tailored meals, home safety modifications, respite care and other social services.
Ball: Which providers are in your network to deliver the care to your members?
Hunn: The doctors, hospitals and other facilities that participate in commercial health plans also serve our Medi-Cal population. We have more than 10,000 contracts in place to ensure we have a robust network of providers. The quality of care you and I enjoy from our commercial, employer-sponsored plan is the same we strive to deliver for our members. And we have a great track record of success. For nine years in a row, CalOptima Health’s Medi-Cal plan has been rated among the top plans in California, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Ball: Congratulations! I look forward to continuing our conversation in Part 2 of this series.
