SFHP Leverages Local Connections, In-House Capabilities to Launch D-SNP

To prepare for new integrated care requirements for dual eligible Californians, San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP) and other Medi-Cal plans are in throes of setting up a Medicare Advantage Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) in their service area, if they haven’t done so already. During the 15th Annual Medicare Market Innovations Forum, held April 8-9 in Orlando, Florida, SFHP’s Diane Sargent discussed the daunting task of building a D-SNP and the tremendous potential to improve care delivery for up to 47,000 dual eligible beneficiaries in the plan’s service area.  

As part of the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, the state’s Dept. of Health Care Services (DHCS) is implementing new policies to promote integrated care for duals that build on the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI), the state’s financial alignment demonstration with CMS that included Medicare Medi-Cal Plans (MMPs) serving duals. Under the first phase of CalAIM, which kicked off in January 2023, DHCS launched D-SNPs in the seven CCI counites. Under an exclusively aligned enrollment (EAE) model, duals access their Medicare and Medi-Cal coverage via the same managed care plan. Managed care plans in non-CCI counties that wish to continue serving dual eligibles must launch EAE D-SNPs no later than Jan. 1, 2026.