Medi-Cal managed care plans (MCPs) and community health initiatives have a shared interest in improving the health of populations by addressing social determinants of health and improving health equity. Yet there are many barriers to collaboration and aligning resources across sectors including mismatched timeframes and difficulty ensuring that benefits accrue to entities that make investments. In this paper, prepared as background for a roundtable hosted by the California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative, JSI and the Center for Health Care Strategies discuss those barriers; describe the Medicaid regulatory and funding landscape; and identify one set of opportunities for MCP investment in community health initiatives that is currently feasible in California and one set that is feasible given federal guidance but would require state action.
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