News

News

HRSA Awards LA Health Centers $1.3 Million to Improve Patient Care through Information Technology

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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Health Centers Applaud Investments in Health4All and Health Care Workforce

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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CCALAC Condemns SCOTUS Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade, Ending 50 Years of Nationwide Access to Safe Abortion

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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CCALAC Launches the CREW to Help Health Centers Navigate a New Workforce Landscape

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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American Rescue Plan Invests $6 Billion into Community Health Centers

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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State Budget Saves the Safety Net  

LOS ANGELES – June 23, 2020 – On Monday evening, California’s legislature and the Governor reached an agreement on the budget bill, which the Governor will sign by the end of the month. Monday’s budget agreement is the result of complex negotiations to close the state’s $54 billion budget shortfall due to COVID-19.  

The approved budget avoids cuts to health and social services for seniors and the working poor, preserving MediCal eligibility and benefits, and well as payments for MediCal providers. The budget also reinstates funds to offset the financial harm to health centers under the state’s 2021 transition of the MediCal pharmacy benefit. While this funding is critical, the pharmacy transition will still be a heavy lift for the state and health centers during an unprecedented time. 

This is not the end. The legislature will return in July to revisit the budget when the state’s financial ...

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Los Angeles Health Centers Receive Grants from Health Net to Expand Telehealth Services

LOS ANGELES – May 6, 2020 – Today Health Net awarded $13.4 million to California Medi-Cal providers to support the establishment and expansion of telehealth and telephonic services. Los Angeles County community health centers received $4.7 million to support telehealth implementation and expansion. We thank Health Net for taking the initiative to support safety net providers during this challenging time and helping to ensure essential care continues to be provided in our most vulnerable communities.

Community clinics and health centers clinics are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and face unprecedented challenges as they respond to this crisis. Health centers urgently need support as they adapt their operations so they can safely continue to provide high-quality care to their patients and communities. Almost two-thirds of clinic patients in Los Angeles are on Medi-Cal, and those numbers will only increase ...

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GOVERNOR NEWSOM’S BUDGET PROVIDES PROMISING OUTLOOK FOR HEALTHCARE AND HOMELESSNESS

LOS ANGELES – January 10, 2020 – Today, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled the 2020-21 state budget proposal totaling $222.2 billion, with resources allocated towards programs important to community health centers and the patients they serve.

We applaud the Governor for taking the bold step of allocating funding to expand health care coverage to all of California’s income eligible elders. We are extremely pleased to see continued investments toward achieving the vision of health care for all Californians.

The resources for health centers to offset losses associated with the transition of the Medi-Cal pharmacy benefit are a promising first step toward making clinics whole. We look forward to continued engagement with the administration to ensure that last year’s pharmacy proposal does not harm safety net providers or their patients.

We are also encouraged to see investments in critically needed areas such as housing ...

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