ORANGE, Calif. (January 23, 2024) — CalOptima Health is pleased to announce that the Orange County Board of Supervisors has appointed Kelly Bruno-Nelson, MSW, Executive Director of Medi-Cal and California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), to the Commission to End Homelessness (Commission). Bruno-Nelson will serve in the newly designated Medi-Cal managed care health plan seat for a two-year term, ending January 22, 2026. This demonstrates the increasing role of Medi-Cal health plans in serving individuals experiencing homelessness.
The Commission implements and coordinates strategies to address homelessness in Orange County. Since 2022, CalOptima Health has successfully launched two of the initial components of the five-year CalAIM program as required by the Department of Health Care Services. The goal of CalAIM is to improve the quality of life and health outcomes of the Medi-Cal population by meeting people where they are in life, addressing social drivers of health and breaking down barriers to accessing care. Bruno Nelson will look to share best practices from the CalAIM activities with the Commission.
With unanimous support from the CalOptima Health Board of Directors, Bruno-Nelson has led several significant CalOptima Health initiatives to address the growing crisis of homelessness. This past year, she championed the awarding of $93.7 million in community grants to build permanent supportive housing for Medi-Cal members, expand capacity among homeless service providers and promote system change. She also successfully led the team that launched CalOptima Health’s Street Medicine Program in Garden Grove in April 2023, and is overseeing its expansion to Costa Mesa and Anaheim this summer. Further, Bruno-Nelson is facilitating the conversion of a 52-room motel to CalOptima Health’s first Street Medicine Support Center, providing a bridge for members from the street into housing.
“I am very honored to be joining the Commission to End Homelessness,” says Kelly Bruno-Nelson, MSW, Executive Director of Medi-Cal/CalAIM. “My fellow committee members are inspiring community leaders and advocates committed to ending homelessness in Orange County. I look forward to sharing my experience in health care and perspective as a social worker to forge collaborative solutions that reach the most vulnerable members of our community.”