The 2025-26 Budget: Health Care Access and Information

Feb 20, 2025 - …Though Data Limitations Complicate Comparisons. The prescription drug market involves a complex and opaque system of payments and players, complicating assessments of drug prices. One key issue is rebates —negotiated discounts that drug makers pay to health plans after drugs are purchased.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4979

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 13, 2026 - Of the DDS consumers enrolled in Medi ‑Cal, the majority (about 60  percent based on the most recent available data) qualify automatically because they receive Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5157

The 2025-26 Budget: Understanding Recent Increases in the Medi-Cal Senior Caseload

Mar 6, 2025 - Based on data available on the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) Open Data Portal, the increases have continued through at least December 2024 (the last month of data available as of publication of this report).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5010

The 2025-26 Budget: CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports Implementation Update

Mar 6, 2025 - Housing deposits Funding for one ‑time services necessary to establish a household, including security deposits to obtain a lease, first month ’s coverage of utilities, or first and last month ’s rent required prior to occupancy.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5003

The 2021-22 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor’s May Revision

May 17, 2021 - CAC = California Arts Council; CalVet = California Department of Veterans Affairs; CDE = California Department of Education; CDFA = California Department of Food and Agriculture; CDI = California Department of Insurance; CDT = California Department of Technology; SOC = Security Operations Center; IT = information technology; CMD = California Military Department; CPUC = California
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4432/6

The 2026-27 Budget: Medi-Cal Analysis

Mar 2, 2026 - The administration has indicated it will prioritize using administrative data to automatically identify individuals who are excluded or exempt from the community engagement requirement. For  example, the administration proposes using multiple data sources —including state wage records, Internal Revenue Service data, and third ‑party employment
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5146

Considering Medi-Cal in the Midst of a Changing Fiscal and Policy Landscape

Oct 24, 2025 - H.R.  1 requires states to take additional steps to verify Medicaid eligibility using administrative data. Specifically, states must create standardized processes to confirm enrollees ’ mailing addresses using certain data sources.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5083

An Update on the Public Health Laboratory System After the Pandemic

Jun 12, 2025 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state had difficulties managing the high volume of laboratory data associated with the pandemic and local public health laboratories did not have a consistent system to report COVID data.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5056

The 2021-22 Budget: Medi-Cal Enterprise System Modernization Effort

Feb 17, 2021 - To better align some Medi ‑Cal IT systems with MITA and benefit from the available enhanced federal funding, DHCS started a number of Medi ‑Cal IT system modernization initiatives, including CA ‑MMIS Modernization in 2010, the Comprehensive Behavioral Health Data System in 2015, and MEDS Modernization in 2016.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4375

The 2025-26 Budget: Medi-Cal Pharmacy Spending

Apr 3, 2025 - We also used drug utilization data to track which drugs have driven changes in pharmacy spending. However, the data on their own are not conducive to effective trend analysis. This is because each quarter of data contains around 40,000 line items, and some drugs are spread across multiple lines.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5026