On December 30, 2015 California’s Section 1115(a) Medicaid Waiver Renewal, entitled Medi-Cal 2020, was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to transform and improve the quality of care, access, and efficiency of health care services for over 13 million Medi-Cal members.
California’s Med-Cal 2020 1115(a) Waiver Demonstration Project (Waiver) allows for increased access to substance use disorder treatment services for Medi-Cal eligible adolescents. Medi-Cal provides coverage to 1.0 million adolescents in California between the ages of 12 to 17, 13.2% of the state’s Medi-Cal population. The Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Children’s Branch applied for and was awarded a grant in the amount of $150,000 to conduct a project that determines the needs of Shasta County adolescents for substance use disorder treatment and the subsequent development of adolescent-focused treatment options.
Established in 1899, APU provides the unique expertise to assist the HHSA Children’s Services Branch in establishing a tailored program for substance use disorder treatment services to benefit Medi-Cal eligible Shasta County adolescents. APU’s Professor Dr. Gonzales-Castaneda, PhD, MPH is uniquely qualified and highly skilled in conducting research and evaluation projects with substance use disorder (SUD) adolescent populations.
Being already aware of the local adult substance use disorders and having various treatments options available to the adults, this project focuses specifically on our adolescent population in Shasta County to identify the levels and types of use and develop relevant local adolescent-focused treatment options.
According to survey results posted by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Adolescent Health, in California, 17% percent of high school students report they drank alcohol for the first time before the age of 13; 43% report that they usually obtained the alcohol they drank by someone giving it to them; and 29% report that they had at least one drink of alcohol on at least one day within 30 days prior to the survey. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 7.5% of California adolescents tried marijuana for the first time before the age of 13 and that 38.6% of California adolescents report that they have used marijuana one or more times in their lifetime.
Evaluating the adolescent substance use disorder treatment needs unique to Shasta County requires an in depth look at the influences in their life that have put them at-risk which results in them being less likely to transition successfully into adulthood. Substance use can have long-lasting effects on the developing brain and may interfere with family, positive peer relationships, and school performance. Many adolescents who engage in substance use have a history of physical, emotional, sexual abuse, or another trauma.
The intended result of this project is the development of local adolescent-focused treatment options tailored to meet the unique needs of our local adolescent that considers their level of psychological development, gender, relations with family and peers, how well he or she is doing in school, the larger community, cultural and ethnic factors, and any special physical or behavioral issues.