Residency Program Prepares Family Nurse Practitioners for Service in Under-resourced Communities

LOS ANGELES—JAN. 26, 2023—After the success of its first cohort, the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC), in partnership with the Chin Family Institute for Nursing (CFIN) at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), has launched the second cohort of the Family Nurse Practitioner Community Care Residency Program. Through the program, three newly licensed family nurse practitioners (FNPs) are receiving post-graduate training while providing much-needed services at community health centers in Los Angeles.

As California continues to grapple with a health care workforce crisis, including a shortage of primary care providers, FNPs can help close the gap. FNPs provide high quality, community-based ...

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LOS ANGELES – Jan. 11, 2023 – Yesterday, Governor Newsom unveiled his 2023-24 state budget proposal, which works to avoid cuts to California’s most critical programs in the face of a projected $22.5-billion deficit.

Despite the shortfall, the Governor maintains commitments to transforming and expanding Medi-Cal through continued investments in CalAIM and the expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility to all income-eligible Californians on January 1, 2024. This is laudable.

Community health centers share the Governor’s goal of universal coverage, but for coverage to be meaningful it must translate into access. What the budget does not do is make critically needed investments to bolster the health care workforce and the Medi-Cal provider network infrastructure. The Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC) urges the Governor to prioritize rather than delay investments in health care workforce training programs and to make ...

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LOS ANGELES – July 22, 2022 – The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced awards of $43 million in funding to 49 Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs) across the nation. Among the awardees, the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC) will receive $1.3 million per year over the next three years to serve 46 health centers in Los Angeles County. This is CCALAC’s fourth consecutive award.

HCCNs provide technical assistance to federally-funded health centers, using information technology to improve patient care, reduce health gaps and engage in value-based care delivery. The HRSA awards will enable HCCNs nationwide to support more than 1,200 health centers.

“In the last HCCN three-year grant cycle, members of the Los Angeles network received over 11,000 specialized technical assistance support hours, resulting in enhanced patient and provider experiences, improvements in data exchange, and data ...

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LOS ANGELES – July 1, 2022 – Last night, Governor Newsom signed the state budget into law, continuing the state’s bold leadership in expanding coverage and making critically needed investments in health care.

We are thrilled to see the expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility to all income-eligible Californians by including adults age 26 to 49 by January 1, 2024. We applaud the Governor and the many partners and advocates who have worked tirelessly toward this goal, and we are excited for the more than 700,000 Californians who will finally be eligible for health care coverage. Now the work begins to prepare for enrolling these individuals and ensuring they can access the quality care they deserve. CCALAC, our members, and partners are committed to improving the strength of the Medi-Cal program as we embark on this historic expansion.

California’s health care workforce shortage is ...

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LOS ANGELES – June 24, 2022 – The Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County condemns the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision today in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which will overturn Roe v. Wade and end nearly 50 years of nationwide protection for access to safe abortion. As a result, we will see abortion rights revoked in about half of the states, potentially jeopardizing the lives of women and people across the country, whose ability to make decisions about their bodies will be limited and who may resort to potentially life-threatening alternatives to terminate their pregnancies.  

Restrictions on access will disproportionately impact people who already face structural obstacles to accessing care in this country, including people with low incomes, people of color, young people and others. In states with abortion bans, people will face enormous financial ...

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LOS ANGELES – Nov. 5, 2021 – The pandemic has amplified staffing challenges for community health centers. Now more than ever health centers struggle with staff recruitment, retention, and well-being. Staffing shortages are high, retention rates continue to decline, and health center staff are reporting high levels of burnout.

In response, CCALAC developed the Collaborative for Retention, Engagement and Wellness (CREW) to provide support and solutions to address these workforce challenges. CREW is a 12-week program that combines didactic training, group discussion, and organizational interventions. Teams from 14 health centers are participating in the first cohort of the initiative, which launched Nov. 4.

The program design was informed by CCALAC’s 2021 Workforce Retention Survey, in which respondents voiced their need for support with employee wellness, retention, onboarding and recruitment. The survey showed that health centers experience the greatest challenge in recruiting medical ...

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Health centers today received exciting news: the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced over $6 billion in funding to community health centers (CHCs) nationwide under the American Rescue Plan. 56 FQHC 330 grantee organizations in Los Angeles will receive more than $267 million in funding.

According to whitehouse.gov, the $6 billion investment into CHCs will expand vaccinations, testing, and treatment; deliver preventive and primary health care services to people at higher risk for the virus; and expand health centers’ operational capacity during the pandemic and beyond, including modifying and improving physical infrastructure and adding mobile units.

These one-time, two-year funds couldn’t come at a more critical time. Recent analysis by Capitol Link found that from April to December 2020, California’s health centers experienced $1.4 billion in lost revenue and pandemic-related costs. The American Rescue Plan funds will be an essential bridge to help health centers ...

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