By David Gorn, California Healthline
At an Assembly Committee on Health hearing yesterday, Department of Health Care Services Director Toby Douglas said the backlog of Medi-Cal applications -- at one point in March topping 900,000 unprocessed eligibility claims -- now is down to about 250,000 applications and will be "down significantly" from that by the start of November.
Douglas answered a number of concerns at the hearing, including announcing a shift in DHCS policy regarding asthma and allergy testing, as well as Denti-Cal and special-needs dental care issues.
The counties and DHCS, Douglas said, reduced the Medi-Cal application backlog by 650,000 over six months -- more than 100,000 a month. A similar pace in the next month-and-a-half would get it down to about 100,000 applications.
"If you look at the trajectory, I hope to take this down significantly over the next six weeks," Douglas said.