L.A. Care CEO John Baackes was recognized recently as a Community Health Champion at Eisner Health’s 2nd Annual Promise of Care Community Health Champions Luncheon. The event honored individuals who have greatly impacted the health care landscape through their promise to care for the health and well-being of all Angelenos.
Under Baackes' leadership, L.A. Care has launched a number of programs and initiatives that enhance the health and wellness of all Angelenos, not just L.A. Care members. It committed $20 million over five years to Brilliant Corners, an agency that finds housing for the county's Housing for Health program, and it is well on its way to reaching the goal of finding a permanent home for 300 individuals experiencing homelessness.
L.A. Care also launched a $31 million initiative to address the growing physician shortage in the county. The Elevating the Safety Net initiative provides funding to recruit new primary care physicians into safety net clinics and practices, to pay off medical school loan debt for those new recruits, and it awarded eight full medical school scholarships — four to students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and four to the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.
Baackes also led the expansion of the L.A. Care Family Resource Centers (FRCs), which serve as community hubs providing a wide array of health and wellness classes for everyone in the community. There are currently six FRCs across the county, with plans to open another seven centers in the coming years.
Eisner Health also recognized California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara as a Community Health Champion. Prior to becoming Insurance Commissioner, Lara served in the state legislature where he wrote the Health for All Kids bill which became the basis for budget action that provided health care to undocumented children.