State’s CalHEERS platform uses AI to reduce manual tasks by 40%, accelerating real-time eligibility verification for millions of Californians

SACRAMENTO, Calif. and LAS VEGAS, April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cloud Next ’26 — Covered California today announced an expanded partnership with Google Public Sector and Deloitte to transform CalHEERS, the integrated health insurance eligibility and enrollment platform serving millions of Californians, ushering in a new era of AI-driven efficiency. By scaling Google Cloud’s Document AI (DocAI) solution across its healthcare insurance eligibility workflows, Covered California has set a national standard for public health innovation, automating complex document verification for millions of residents at an unprecedented scale. The system ensures that all Californians—including those with limited or no credit history—receive faster, more equitable access to high-quality healthcare.

Leveraging advanced AI technologies from Google Cloud and human expertise, Covered California’s CalHEERS program has achieved:

• 40% reduction in manual tasks: By automating high-volume document processing, staff can now prioritize guiding consumers through complex healthcare choices.
• Rapid innovation at scale: Automated verification now covers 25 new and different document types, accelerating eligibility determinations and reducing the system’s exposure to identity and document fraud.

Improving the Consumer Healthcare Journey
Covered California’s CalHEERS eligibility process requires millions of residents to share documentation—including income and residency status—to secure essential coverage. Previously, verification could take between 72 hours and three weeks for final confirmation, often resulting in follow-up calls to consumers weeks after they believed they were enrolled. To eliminate these barriers and address evolving compliance needs, Covered California implemented a customized, AI-driven system with Google Public Sector and Deloitte. This provides applicants with real-time, on-screen feedback in just a few seconds, allowing for instant corrections, fewer back-and-forth cycles, and a faster path to care.

“Covered California seeks industry partners to design solutions to support our mission to provide access to affordable, high-quality healthcare as a basic human right,” said Kevin Cornish, Chief Information Officer, Covered California. “By leveraging Google Cloud’s Document AI, we have transformed the eligibility journey into a real-time, consumer-friendly experience. This advancement enables our staff to focus their expertise on high-value engagement and problem-solving with applicants, ensuring they receive the support they need.”

Operational Excellence 
This partnership demonstrates how AI can help highly regulated health systems reduce friction and increase efficiency. Using a “human-in-the-loop” methodology, DocAI automates the vast majority of document verifications while routing complex or ambiguous cases to service center representatives. This allows Covered California to consistently keep up with new state legislation and federal requirements while maintaining high validation standards.

“True innovation in the public sector is measured by the lives it improves through modernization,” said Matthew Schneider, U.S. Education, State and Local Government, Google Public Sector. “Leveraging Google Cloud’s AI technologies and Deloitte’s industry expertise, Covered California has built a system that accelerates access to healthcare while protecting every applicant’s data with the highest level of integrity. Covered California has set the national benchmark for providing a seamless, mission-driven experience that can create a healthier, more equitable future for communities.”

A Cornerstone for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Prevention
The integration of DocAI serves as a critical cornerstone for identifying and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse. The system is trained to identify subtle fraudulent markers, such as missing signatures on a digital image or mismatched dates, that might escape manual review. To ensure fairness, the system does not automatically reject those applying. Instead, it flags them for human specialist review. Built on a FedRAMP-certified cloud foundation from Google Cloud, the platform ensures that innovation never compromises integrity, maintaining full compliance with strict data residency requirements.

“Modernizing CalHEERS meant tackling the core operational challenges, not just layering in new technology,” said Kunal Shah, Deloitte’s Government and Public Services AI and Engineering leader. “By embedding Google Cloud’s DocAI, we helped shift the paradigm from a more lengthy, manual review to a faster and trusted next-generation AI-powered model. This improves the accuracy of data and helps meet key policy objectives by using technology to strengthen the government’s ability to manage fraud, waste and abuse. When you put people at the center of your strategy, AI can be responsibly used to help address government challenges and unlock a new level of service and efficiency.”

About Google Cloud
Google Cloud offers a powerful, optimized AI stack — including AI infrastructure, leading models like Gemini, data management capabilities, multicloud security solutions, developer tools and platform, as well as agents and applications — that enables organizations to transform their business for the Agentic Era. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

About Deloitte
As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

About Covered California
Covered California is the state’s health insurance marketplace, where Californians can find affordable, high-quality insurance from top insurance companies. Covered California is the only place where individuals who qualify can get financial assistance on a sliding scale to reduce premium costs. Consumers can then compare health insurance plans and choose the plan that works best for their health needs and budget. Depending on their income, some consumers may qualify for the low-cost or no-cost Medi-Cal program.

Covered California is an independent part of the state government whose job is to make the health insurance marketplace work for California’s consumers. It is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the governor and the Legislature. For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com.

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SOURCE Google Cloud