A newly released study by UC Berkeley's California Program on Access to Care (CPAC) details the pro-active methods used by these counties to achieve health care expansion.
Although all four counties constantly grapple with resource constraints, these counties have made significant strides in bringing health care to more people by:
• Launching health insurance programs for children who are not eligible for existing public programs;
• Developing initiatives that make it easier for individuals to get to and use health care clinics;
• Launching new information technology programs to help identify eligibility for services; and
• Acting to develop insurance programs for the most vulnerable adult populations in the county area.
"Some of the best innovations in health coverage expansion today are taking place at the local level," said CPAC Director Gil Ojeda. "In the face of severe resource limitations these four California counties can act as models for other communities."
According to the CPAC study, the "key ways" to expand health coverage are:
• Forming access coalitions comprised of professionals from hospitals, insurance groups, community organizations, public health agencies and foundations that can drive programs, create infrastructure and identify funding.
• Focusing attention on key access initiatives, such as attracting more doctors to underserved areas, adding new sites close to public transportation and integrating mental and behavioral health services with primary care services.
• Beefing up information technology to speed up enrollment, determine eligibility and collect and store data so patient records are available to all health care providers.
• Tapping into existing funding sources at the state, federal and local levels, and identifying new funding sources to bring health care to more people.
UC San Francisco assistant professor Annette Gardner outlined these CPAC findings and policy recommendations in her study titled: Increasing Health Care Access for the Medically Underserved in Four California Counties.
The California Program on Access to Care is an applied policy research program administered through UC Berkeley's School of Public Health in cooperation with the University of California Office of the President. CPAC works to promote health care access to vulnerable populations in California.
For more information on the California Program on Access to Care: www.ucop.edu/cpac