Thousands of Medi-Cal Patients Report Poor Treatment by Doctors, Staff

Data released in June by California’s Department of Health Care Services show that nearly 7,000 Medi-Cal patients filed official grievances about “poor provider/staff attitude” in the last three months of 2017, the most recent data available, making it the top quality of care complaint. This grievance category is new so the Department can’t yet assess which direction this dissatisfaction is trending, but advocates say the issues of stigma, cultural competence and language barriers have long been problems for Medi-Cal patients in their interactions with providers.

The issue is, I’ll use the card, but I’m treated in a different way because I’m using the card,” [Angelo Williams] recalled people saying. “The stigma is that in using the card, it reinforces some of the external stereotypes, the imposition of an inferior status.”

You can read the full article here and review DHCS’s Managed Care Performance Monitoring Dashboard Report here.

HCA