The Health Industry Collaboration Effort (ICE), a collaborative formed to improve health care regulatory compliance through education of the public, has invited L.A. Care’s Chief of Communications and Community Relations to present at its 2020 virtual conference, which will shed light on one way the healthcare industry has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Francisco Oaxaca will present on the decision to offer telehealth access and free WiFi at the Community Resource Centers that L.A. Care jointly operates with Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan.
The pandemic closed the Community Resource Centers for a few months, but they began to reopen for appointment-only visitors in late September. The pandemic and the resulting social distancing guidance resulted in a dramatic jump in the use of telehealth medical visits. Given the reality that many low-income individuals lack robust mobile data plans, L.A. Care and Blue Shield Promise began offering private telehealth consultation spaces and free WiFi in each center upon their reopening to offer a safe space for Community Resource Center visitors to conduct a virtual medical visit.
Oaxaca will talk about the early WiFi usage and the safety precautions taken at the four jointly operated centers, which are located in Metro L.A., Pomona, Lynwood, East L.A. and Palmdale.
In September of 2019, L.A. Care and Blue Shield Promise announced a combined $146 million, five-year commitment to jointly operated 14 Community Resource Centers across Los Angeles County. This unique collaboration will help improve health outcomes in local communities and the quality of life for members of the two health plans. Improved health outcomes will also reduce health care costs over time.
Oaxaca will be co-presenting with Susan Fleischman, MD, Blue Shield Promise’s Chief Medical Officer. While Oaxaca will focus on the new telehealth infrastructure at the Community Resource Centers, Dr. Fleischman will focus on a behavioral health telehealth pilot that Blue Shield recently conducted.