Francisco Oaxaca Will Describe Benefits of a Community Resource Center Model
Whole Person Care, the coordination of physical, behavioral and social determinants of health to improve health outcomes, is being embraced by health plans all across the country. This week, health care leaders are gathering in Phoenix, Arizona for a two-day Whole Person Care Conference to examine how to expand efforts to coordinate care, improve access, and eliminate barriers to care. Francisco Oaxaca, Chief of Communications and Community Relations at L.A. Care Health Plan, is among the presenters at the conference.
On Friday, October 14, Oaxaca will deliver a presentation titled Developing and Implementing the Community Resource Center Model: Meeting Member Needs During the Pandemic and Beyond to Enhance Equity and Access to Care. He will describe the network of Community Resource Centers jointly operated by L.A. Care and Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, and will share how the centers are contributing to whole person care.
L.A. Care opened its first of resource center in 2007 with a goal of giving the health plan a physical presence in communities where members live to enhance customer service, and to provide free health and fitness programming and access to free resources that could improve health outcomes. There were six centers across Los Angeles County by the time L.A. Care entered into the collaboration with Blue Shield Promise. The first jointly-operated center opened in November of 2019, just three months before the pandemic forced closure of all the centers.
During the closure, the resource centers provided virtual programming to help members and their communities stay active, healthy and informed. The centers also addressed food insecurity, which increased during the pandemic, by hosting numerous drive-through food pantries.
The centers have reopened and are providing a wide variety of services that encompass whole person care. In addition to providing a safe place where people can socialize, the centers provide connections to many social services, which can help with food and financial insecurity. Oaxaca will explain how this social support is critical in enhancing health equity.
There are now 10 L.A. Care-Blue Shield Promise Community Resource Centers across Los Angeles County, with plans for a total of 14 to be in operation before the end of next year.