L.A. Care Awards Nearly $4.3 Million for Physician Recruitment

7th Round of Provider Recruitment Grants Supporting the L.A. County Safety Net

LOS ANGELES – The COVID-19 pandemic has created staffing challenges for safety net clinics across the country, which has only exacerbated an already existing physician shortage. Today, L.A. Care Health Plan is announcing 29 awardees in its seventh round of Elevating the Safety Net Provider Recruitment Program grants. The 29 grants will bring more physicians into the safety net, helping to relieve the strain that has worsened during the pandemic.

In 2018, L.A. Care launched Elevating the Safety Net (ESN), a five-year, $155 million initiative to recruit highly qualified primary care physicians into the Los Angeles County safety net. Safety net providers offer health care access to a substantial share of the Medi-Cal population and the uninsured.

“To date, L.A. Care has awarded 148 physician recruitment grants, and 90 new physicians have been recruited into the L.A. County safety net,” said John Baackes, L.A. Care CEO. “We are extremely proud of the impact this initiative is having, increasing health care access for our members.”

Each new physician recruited into the safety net can serve as many as 2,000 new patients.

The grants announced today are worth nearly $4.3 million dollars, bringing the total award amount from all six rounds to nearly $19 million.

The seventh round awardees are:

 

All for Health, Health for All, Burbank
All-Inclusive Community Health Center, Burbank
AltaMed Health Services Corp., Huntington Park
Angeles Community Health Center, Huntington Park
APLA, Los Angeles/Long Beach
AppleCare Hospitalist Medical Group, Lynwood
Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, Los Angeles
Bartz-Altadonna Community Health Center, Lancaster/Palmdale
Center for Family Health and Education, Long Beach
Central Neighborhood Health Foundation, Inglewood
Comprehensive Community Health Centers, Los Angeles
East Valley Community Health Center, Pomona/West Covina
Harbor Community Clinic, San Pedro
Ideal Health Care and Medical Clinic, Los Angeles
JWCH, Lynwood/Downey
Kedren Community Health Center, Los Angeles
Kids and Teens Medical Group, San Fernando
MLK Community Health Foundation, Compton/Los Angeles
Northeast Community Clinic, Los Angeles
Saban Community Clinic, Los Angeles
South Bay Family Health Care, Redondo Beach
T.H.E. Health and Wellness, Los Angeles
Tender Care Community Clinic, Downey
The Children’s Clinic, Long Beach
UMMA Community Clinic, Los Angeles
Uptimum Medical Group, Inglewood
Venice Family Clinic, Venice/Santa Monica
Wilmington Community Clinic, Wilmington

Newly recruited physicians to the safety net are eligible for the Provider Loan Repayment Program, another part of Elevating the Safety Net. Under the program, physicians receive loan repayments of up to $5,000 per month for up to 36 months, as long as they continue to work within the safety net. Sixty-seven physicians have been approved for loan repayment grants.

For information about the other programs in Elevating the Safety net, please visit our Elevating the Safety Net page at lacare.org,