{"id":183491,"date":"2025-09-26T18:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T18:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/183491\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T18:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T18:24:11","slug":"county-health-reassigning-some-medi-cal-patients-amid-federal-restrictions-local-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/183491\/","title":{"rendered":"County Health Reassigning Some Medi-Cal Patients Amid Federal Restrictions | Local News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roughly 7,500 Medi-Cal<\/a> patients in Santa Barbara County<\/a> will be reassigned to new health care providers as a result of a federal policy change affecting eligibility at County Health Care Centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The shift stems from a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/a> to classify Federally Qualified Health Centers<\/a> as a federal public benefit. That designation prohibits clinics that receive federal funding, including all five of the county-operated Health Centers, from serving individuals enrolled in Medi-Cal who are identified as having \u201cunsatisfactory immigration status.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a legal injunction is temporarily blocking the rule change in California<\/a>, County Health Director Mouhanad Hammami said the department could not afford to wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many uncertainties that we don\u2019t know if (the injunction) will prevail,\u201d Hammami said. \u201cThe complexity of managing care and continuity is not something that can be done on a dime.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the transition is underway to give county Health Center patients time to find new providers and allow clinics to prepare before the restrictions take effect Jan. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Under current Medi-Cal rules, eligibility checks are conducted at the individual level. The new designation applies to the clinics themselves, making it unlawful for them to serve patients with restricted immigration status, even if those patients are eligible for Medi-Cal through California\u2019s expanded coverage, Hammami said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll five of our County Health Centers are federally designated and receive federal funding,\u201d He said. \u201cIf we are deemed non-compliant, that could put other federal funding in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santa Barbara County is among the areas most directly impacted by the policy change, in part because California is one of the few states that allows Medi-Cal enrollment for eligible people regardless of immigration status<\/a>. \u201cOther states like Texas or Michigan don\u2019t offer that coverage at all, so they aren\u2019t in this situation,\u201d Hammami said.<\/p>\n

The county is working with CenCal Health<\/a>, the local Medi-Cal managed care plan, to identify affected members and begin the reassignment process.<\/p>\n

Patients enrolled in managed care will be moved to new providers within CenCal Health\u2019s existing network, which includes more than 1,800 physicians and clinics, according to that organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral primary care provider practices have expressed willingness to support community health by providing primary care services to more members beginning in January,\u201d said Marina Owen, chief executive officer of CenCal Health, in a statement.<\/p>\n

She said affected patients will be contacted with details on the new assignment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers will be notified through a letter which includes the name and location of the new primary care provider, and specific steps that a member can take if they have questions,\u201d Owen said.<\/p>\n

She said additional support to minimize disruptions, such as bilingual services and multilingual interpretation will also be available.<\/p>\n

\u201cCenCal Health\u2019s clinical and case management team is working to ensure that members in active treatment and\/or with ongoing medical needs are transitioned to a new provider,\u201d Owen said. \u201cIn the most seamless and coordinated manner to support ongoing care.\u201d<\/p>\n

For patients not enrolled in managed care, the county will provide a list of alternative clinics and counseling support. Hammami said Health Center staff will still assist walk-in patients with locating care after the change takes effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will never abandon our patients or our community,\u201d Hammami said. \u201cIf we are unable to provide care ourselves, we will make sure they are still receiving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shift is also expected to affect the Health Department\u2019s budget, largely due to a projected loss of revenue from patients who will no longer be eligible for services. According to the county, layoffs and the elimination of some budgeted positions are anticipated. A revised budget proposal is scheduled to go before the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n

Hammami said the department used the temporary injunction as a window to begin planning without disrupting immediate care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the injunction gave us a little bit of breathing time to not do it immediately when this was implemented,\u201d he said. \u201cThat gave us a couple of months to arrange all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roughly 7,500 Medi-Cal patients in Santa Barbara County will be reassigned to new health care providers as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253,983],"class_list":["post-183491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}