L.A. Care's Commitment to Health Equity

L.A. Care is committed to advancing health equity for our members and their communities. By health equity, we mean everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

Health Equity Work

L.A. Care's Health Equity Action Plan involves a number of internal and external efforts:

Organizational Structure

  • Adopting an official Statement of Principles on Social Justice and Systemic Racism.
  • Creating a Quality, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Medical Director position to prioritize and oversee the health plan's equity, diversity and inclusion efforts.
  • Implementing an Equity Council Steering Committee with three subcommittees focused on Members, Providers & Vendors, and Employees.

Equity Council Steering Committee meeting on a weekly basis since July 2020.

  • Training all L.A. Care leadership and staff on Diversity and Inclusion, including concepts of implicit bias and cultural humility.

Introduced Cultural Humility training to some departments as part of California Improvement Network grant for quality improvement.

  • Launching a health equity disparities education campaign for employees.

Launched the MOSAIC (Maximizing Opportunities that Support An Inclusive Culture) Book Club to both broaden and deepen a collective knowledge of equity, inclusion and social justice.

  • Following best practices for recruiting a diverse workforce.

Members

Launched the Consumer Health Equity Council to hear member feedback on L.A. Care programs and services pertaining to health equity.

Providers

  • Addressing the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities among health professionals by expanding on L.A. Care's Elevating the Safety Net Initiative.
  • Ensuring that the L.A. Care provider network is reflective of the languages and race/ethnicities of the members they serve.
  • Educating providers and community partners about health disparities.
  • Including equity and disparities metrics in clinical and quality outcomes dashboards.
  • Promoting resources to address the Social Determinants of Health
    • See these curated resources under the "Related Links" section.

Community Partnerships

  • Awarding sponsorships that address equity and social determinants of health.
  • Providing grants to organizations serving marginalized communities.
  • Collaborating with various partners in the community to discuss health disparities and develop community-level interventions.
  • Partnering with Los Angeles County for inaugural L.A. vs. Hate United Against Hate Week, November 30th – December 6th.
  • Hosted two conferences for Black History Month: one on Black Maternal Health and the other on Mental Health.
L.A. Care hosted a free screening of the documentary ‘Black Men in White Coats' thanks to the American Medical Association. L.A. Care then hosted a virtual live panel conversation on the documentary with community partners from Watts HealthCare Corporation, UC Riverside Medical School, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Black Doctors List and more!