Mathematica: Progress Together, a research firm, is hosting a policy roundtable today titled Implementing High-Quality Primary Care in California. Mathematica is bringing together numerous California health care experts, including Richard Seidman, MD, MPH, the Chief Medical Officer for L.A. Care Health Plan, for a discussion on how to strengthen primary care in the Golden State.
A consensus report on primary care by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine sparked the topic. The report found that, although an increased supply of primary care providers is associated with better population health and equitable outcomes, they are inequitably distributed and inadequately supported. The report proposes a plan to improve primary care for people in every community through objectives that promote action and recommendations that can be adapted to both national and local needs.
As it strives to find strategies that could meet that goal, Mathematica asked Seidman to speak about the network of Community Resource Centers across Los Angeles County that L.A. Care operates with its plan partner Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan. Mathematica wants to understand how the resource centers can improve primary care.
While the resource centers are not health clinics, they do provide services that support primary care. Seidman will describe the services offered at each of the eight centers that are currently open. These include health plan enrollment, health navigation services, social needs supports, and free Wi-Fi with telehealth hubs. The mission of the resource centers is to increase access to health-related resources and personalized services, foster community connections, address social needs, and improve health outcomes for health plan members and their communities.
Seidman will also discuss future plans for the resource centers and other ways in which L.A. Care is supporting the primary care practices in its network. By the end of this calendar year, it is anticipated that 10 Community Resource Centers will be open, and there will be 14 by the end of 2022. L.A. Care is also addressing the primary care workforce with its Elevating the Safety Net Initiative offering Provider Recruitment Program grants and Provider Loan Repayment Program grants for new physicians added to L.A. Care’s network. The initiative also includes a a medical school Scholarship Program and a Residency Support Program, both to expand the the pipeline of primary care physicians who could one day work in Los Angeles County.
Other speakers on the panel include:
- Robert Phillips, Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care, American Board of Family Medicine Foundation; co-chair, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Implementing High-Quality Primary Care
- Palav Babaria, California Department of Health Care Services
- Alice Chen, Covered California
- Kathryn Phillips, California Health Care Foundation
The moderator is Dianne Rittenhouse with Mathematica. The panel is being held today from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm PT. You can register here.