Medi-Cal Patients May Not Have Adequate Access to Doctors, Audit Finds

Since signing up for Medi-Cal more than a year ago, Kevin Hill hasn’t been able to find a doctor. He said he called at least 15 physicians near his home in Long Beach who were listed in his health plan’s provider directory.

But either the phone numbers didn’t work or the doctors weren’t accepting new patients, he said. He’s given up.

“Now I just go to an emergency center to pay cash even though I can barely afford it,” the 58-year-old said.

Prompted by complaints like Hill’s, the California state auditor last year began evaluating how the state oversees much of its health program for low-income residents. The resulting audit released Tuesday found that provider directories were riddled with errors and that the state Department of Health Care Services hadn’t properly regulated plans to guarantee patients adequate access to doctors.

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