Enhanced Care Management

Santa Cruz County’s Enhanced Care Management (ECM) program assists Medi-Cal recipients who are unhoused, have substance use disorders/serious mental illness, or are high utilizers of medical services, obtain and maintain medical care coordination services. This population faces many challenges living in Santa Cruz, and the ECM team needs additional resources to continue the supportive work the care management program provides. The needs assessment documents the ECM team’s desired physical and emotional resources to support their health and identifies the current barriers to supporting clients. The ECM team responded to a Google form survey and the responses were analyzed for common themes. The team identified motivational interviewing and establishing rapport early on as the most effective skills for establishing a good working relationship with clients. They identified unreliable cell phone access, needing more ECM team members, and too-large caseloads as the primary struggles to support clients. The next steps are to collaborate further with local community service providers, begin advocating for the county to expand access to cell phone charging stations, and hire additional team members to better support the clients and the well-being of the team themselves.