Medicaid advocacy news to celebrate from California

After about 20 years of Occupational Therapy Association of California (OTAC) members and fellow occupational therapy practitioners advocating for the role of occupational therapy (OT) in behavioral health, occupational therapists are now officially classified as licensed mental health professionals (LMHP) and Licensed Practitioners of the Healing Arts (LPHA) under Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. This decision comes from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which approved a Medicaid state plan amendment to expand who is deemed as a qualified provider within behavioral health. This allows occupational therapists to be classified as qualified providers in rehabilitative mental health, targeted case management, substance use disorder treatment services, medication-assisted treatment, and community-based mobile crisis intervention services.