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Fulfilling the Mission—An Assessment of Ambulatory Care in LA County
This comprehensive report assesses the adequacy of the safety net to serve its target population after implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010. Los Angeles community clinics and health centers play a vital role in providing access to comprehensive healthcare services to underserved, underinsured, and vulnerable populations. The health care arena continues to experience immense transformation and has seen substantial financial contributions and policy changes in the ACA era over the past decade.
Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC) last released a safety net assessment of its membership, the primary care services they offer, and the remaining unmet need of the underserved in LA County in 2012, entitled Uncharted Territory: Mapping the Unmet Needs of LA’s Underserved. That report provided a snapshot of the clinics before California’s implementation of the ACA, and served as a fundamental resource to further invest in the LA community clinic system. CCALAC conducts an analysis approximately every five years.
Remarkable changes in LA’s safety net landscape have occurred since the 2012 report release. The Medi-Cal program expanded by over 430,000 patients in Los Angeles, the county kicked off the My Health LA program to over 146,000 enrollees, and both public and private sectors worked to expand and improve access in primary care, mental health and substance use services. CCALAC continues to convene primary stakeholders in the continued discussion of the role of clinics in accelerating transformation of care and leading quality initiatives.
In an effort to capture the full scope of LA’s safety net care delivery system, CCALAC, in partnership with Health Management Associates (HMA) and with support from L.A. Care Health Plan to benefit low-income and uninsured residents of Los Angeles County, prepared this landscape analysis to provide insight to clinics, partners, and stakeholders in considerations about where to expand operations, where to strengthen partnerships with other entities, and how LA County service providers can create a more integrated system of care. It evaluates clinic services as well as those entities either directly operated by, or contracted with the County Departments of Health Services, Public Health, and Mental Health.
With 64 member clinics serving 1.6 million patients per year, CCALAC provides this information with the aim of its utilization as a helpful tool for key decision-making and actionable steps for LA’s clinics and partners.