If you are outside of the L.A. Care service area (Los Angeles County) and need care that is not an emergency or urgent, call your PCP right away. Or call L.A. Care Member Services at 1-888-839-9909 (TTY: 711).
Members that need non-emergency or non-urgent care outside of the L.A. Care service area (Los Angeles County) and/ or provider network, must have pre-approval prior to getting the service. Please call your PCP or L.A. Care Member Services.
For emergency care, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. L.A. Care covers out-of-network emergency care.
If you travel to Canada or Mexico and need emergency care requiring hospitalization, L.A. Care will cover your care. If you are traveling abroad outside of Canada or Mexico and need emergency care, urgent care, or any health care services L.A. Care will not cover your care.
If you paid for emergency care requiring hospitalization in Canada or Mexico, you can ask L.A. Care to pay you back. L.A. Care will review your request.
If you are in another state or are in a US Territory such as American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or US Virgin Islands, you are covered for emergency care.
Not all hospitals and doctors accept Medicaid. (Medi-Cal is what Medicaid is called in California only.) If you need emergency care outside of California, tell the hospital or emergency room doctor as soon as possible that you have Medi-Cal and are a member of L.A. Care.
Ask the hospital to make copies of your L.A. Care ID card. Tell the hospital and the doctors to bill L.A. Care. If you get a bill for services you got in another state, call L.A. Care right away. We will work with the hospital and/or doctor to arrange for L.A. Care to pay for your care.
If you are outside of California and have an emergency need to fill outpatient prescription drugs, have the pharmacy call Medi-Cal Rx at 1-800-977-2273.
Note: American Indians may get services at out-of-network IHCPs.
California Children’s Services (CCS) Program is a state program that treats children under 21 years of age who have certain health conditions, diseases, or chronic health problems and meet the CCS program rules.
If you need health care services for a CCS eligible medical condition and L.A. Care does not have a CCS-paneled specialist in the network who can provide the care you need, you may be able to go to a provider outside of the provider network at no cost to you.
To learn more about the CCS program, visit the California Children’s Services section of this handbook.
If you have questions about out-of-network or out-of-service-area care, call L.A. Care Member Services at 1-888-839-9909 (TTY: 711).
If the office is closed and you want help from a representative, call the L.A. Care Nurse Advice Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays at 1-800-249-3619 (TTY 711).
If you need urgent care out of the L.A. Care service area, go to the nearest urgent care facility. If you are traveling outside the United States and need urgent care, L.A. Care will not cover your care. For more information on urgent care, go to the Urgent Care section of this handbook.
Back to Provider Network