Hub & Spoke

In Plain Language, Today's Supreme Court Decision

 How does the Court's decision to uphold Healthcare Reform affect community clinics?

Awesome news today! As you've probably heard, the US Supreme Court supported and upheld President Obama’s Healthcare Reform law. What does this mean for community clinics and our patients? In plain language, here are the important points:

Lots more people are eligible for Medi-Cal coverage

• The Supreme Court said that if states want to grow their Medi-Cal programs to cover more people, they can

• California has already decided to expand its Medi-Cal program, for example by covering low-income childless adults

• WHY DOES THIS MATTER? Growing Medi-Cal matters because now millions more people in this state will be looking for health care providers like community clinics! Clinics will be able to serve many more low-income people

Lots more people will be able to afford private health insurance

• The Supreme Court said that it agrees with President Obama: the healthcare reform law will require adults in this country to have health insurance

• California has set up a program to help people shop for health insurance, and will provide discounts so they can afford it

• WHY DOES THIS MATTER? Requiring adults to have health insurance, and making it affordable, matters because it means millions more Californians will soon be shopping for a new place to go for medical care.  We want these newly-insured people to be community clinic patients!

• If clinics are going to attract these new patients, we need to show them why we’re their best choice: we provide excellent, cutting-edge medical care, and we know their cultures and their languages better than anyone else 

Millions of dollars are available to community clinics in California

• The Supreme Court said that the healthcare reform law can move ahead with providing millions of dollars to California community clinics

• WHY DOES THIS MATTER? This new money will help clinics across the state grow!

LifeLong Medical Care Receives grant award that will save approximately $1 million

Yesterday LifeLong Medical Care (LifeLong) was awarded $1,109,231 as one of the Department of Health and Human Services’ first 26 Health Care Innovation Awardees. Made possible by the Affordable Care Act, the awards support 26 innovative projects nationwide that will save money, deliver high quality medical care and enhance the health care workforce.

Innovative is the appropriate word for LifeLong’s project, titled “Health Care Innovation Challenge: LifeLong complex care initiative to achieve the Triple Aim”. This award will allow the center to further integrate care and encourage healthy behavior, among 3250 seniors and other adults with disabilities who are Medicaid and dual Medicare/Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries. The goal is to reduce avoidable emergency room and hospital visits. The intervention will train adults with disabilities to support adoption of healthy behaviors among their peers and to encourage self-management, with the support of a team of nurse care managers. Improved care and better health for these high risk patients will lower costs with estimated savings of approximately $1 million.

Over the three-year period, LifeLong Medical Care’s program will train an estimated 60 health care workers, while creating an estimated 60 new jobs. These workers will include peer health coaches and nurse care managers who will facilitate integrated care for seniors and for low-income adults with disabilities. LifeLong will partner with Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living and the Alameda Alliance for Health to achieve program goals.

Congratulations LifeLong!!

La Clínica de La Raza Celebrates an Expansion of Quality Health Services With New State-of-the-Art Facility in the Monument Corridor

Our country recently celebrated the second anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, fondly referred to as Obamacare, which expands healthcare access for millions of individuals throughout the nation. There are plenty of positive changes in store for Californians due to the historic passing of this law. Among them are expansion opportunities for Community Health Centers, which provide quality primary health care services for all patients who are in need of care. A shining star in quality healthcare delivery is La Clínica de La Raza (La Clínica), which was founded in 1971 in response to the lack of health care services for residents of East Oakland.

La Clínica presently operates 29 medical, dental, and school-based clinic sites throughout Contra Costa, Solano, and Alameda counties. In 2011 La Clínica served 74,302 patients resulting in 361,261 medical, dental, podiatry, mental health, and health education visits.

As La Clínica continues to expand to meet the needs of a growing patient population, they maintain their vision to be a premier community health center, rooted in the concepts of wellness, prevention and patient-centered care.

La Clínica’s most recent expansion achievement is the opening of a new health center on 2000 Sierra Road, Concord, CA, which began serving patients in the beginning of March. They renovated and expanded a building purchased in 2009 in the Monument Corridor Community to create a 16,958 sq. ft., two-story, modern, state-of-the-art, health care facility.

All are welcome to join in a celebratory Open House for La Clínica’s new site on April 12, 2012 from 5:30-7:30. Location is 2000 Sierra Road, Concord, CA 94518.

Impact of expansion:

• Medical exam rooms increased from 6 to 12 with 2 new procedure rooms
• Dental operatories doubled from 6 to 12
• Expanded site from 5,000 to 16,958 sq. ft.
• Capacity expected to expand the number of patients served annually from 5,000 to close to 14,800 patients
• Ability to provide a “medical and dental home” for more Contra Costa residents (one-stop with comprehensive services under one roof)

Services Provided:

• Integrated Behavioral Health Services
• Case Management
• Chronic Disease Management
• Dental Care
• Family Medicine
• HIV Testing
• Health Education
• Immunizations
• Pediatrics
• Women's Health
• Community Programs
• Senior Services
• Optometry Services

Community Health Centers Launch Local Community Health Vote 2012

 

Community Health Centers in Contra Costa and Solano Counties are now offering patients the opportunity to register to vote and to receive information on the voting process as a service to the community.  As non-profit organizations, La Clínica de La Raza, Brookside Community Health Center, LifeLong Medical Care, and Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific offer non-partisan voter registration and education as part of their commitment to help staff and clients become more engaged in their community. 

Why health centers are registering voters:

This effort is part of Community Health Vote 2012; a national initiative started in 2008 by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) to establish permissible, nonpartisan voter engagement activities -- voter registration, voter education, and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) in the low-income, medically underserved communities served by health centers across America.

Voter engagement is a natural extension of community health centers’ long time bi-partisan grassroots advocacy mission, and is consistent with the founding purpose of being leaders in improving the life and well-being of their communities.  By integrating voter registration into the daily activities and highlighting the importance of voting, health centers hope to help patients and communities be more informed and civically engaged.

How it works:

When patients check-in for their appointment, they have the opportunity to register to vote.  Completing a voter registration application takes just a few minutes, and the Health Center collects and submits completed forms to the Secretary of State’s office as a courtesy to patients and community members. 

The deadline to register to vote in the upcoming June Primary Election is May 21^st. To register, individuals must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old by Election Day, and a resident of California.

The importance of community health centers:

Brookside, La Clínica, LifeLong, and Planned Parenthood provide comprehensive, high-quality primary and reproductive health care services to residents of Contra Costa and Solano Counties. They offer services at affordable prices for the uninsured and medically underserved. According to 2010 Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) data, community health centers recorded approximately 280,000 patient encounters in Contra Costa and Solano Counties.

Why your vote matters!

1.  One vote can and often does matter in election outcomes
2. If you don’t vote, you give someone else the power to affect your life and the lives of your family.
3. If you don’t vote, you double the value of someone else’s vote.
4. When you vote, you send a signal to whoever gets elected to pay attention to you and the needs of your health center, especially when you are a health center patient or staff member.
5. Your vote is your voice in what happens in this country and the only person who can silence your voice is you.

Visit your local health center and register to vote!

State cuts would cripple community health centers

  Just as President Obama’s Healthcare Reform bills are poised to deliver on the promise of providing health care for millions of Californians, Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget would cut funding to neighborhood-based, community-governed health centers. These centers are the only cost-effective alternative to costly, overcrowded emergency rooms.

Federally qualified health centers have a long history of providing quality care to MediCal, Medicare and uninsured patients. Most private providers cannot serve these patients because California has the lowest MediCal rates in the country.

Across California, clinics provide care in the poorest communities that have staggering unemployment rates. Many of these patients have lost health insurance or cannot afford coverage.

Under federal law, health center MediCal payments take into consideration their unique delivery system that goes beyond traditional primary care. Through these centers, patients receive prevention services, health screenings, comprehensive primary care, chronic disease management, behavioral health services, care management and on-site translation services.

The governor’s budget would require community health centers to continue providing care to the uninsured and underinsured, but with 10 percent less funding. This is simply impossible given their mission to serve all who come through our doors. The proposed budget cut would shred the city and state’s safety net. To date, California health centers have lost more than $100 million in the past three years due to harmful budget cuts.

They cannot survive further cuts.

This proposal would force some health centers to close and most to reduce services and access to care. This proposal is simply the wrong prescription for the health of California.

Community Health Centers provide care in a cost-effective structure. They are proud of the fact that they were ranked by the Federal Office of Management and Budget as one of the 10 most effective federal programs currently in existence. And they take pride in their role as a great steward of the taxpayer’s money and as an economic engine in their communities.

The governor’s budget proposal is NOT reform; it is simply a budget cut. Countless studies have concluded that health centers provide high-quality and cost-effective health care to the most vulnerable populations in the state, while reducing overall costs to the health care system. This is what they do well, and they must not let the governor’s plan interfere in their mission.

We urge you to call the governor and tell him that our health care system is fragile enough without this additional devastating cut.

Tell him to let our health centers do the important work they do in keeping our families and communities healthy.

Community Clinics, Oh How We Need You!

The United States currently faces the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, with an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent in September. This is bad news for families in HMOs as studies show that for every one percent that unemployment rises, the number of adults receiving health coverage from employers drops by that same amount. Times like these highlight the vital importance of quality nonprofit community health centers, otherwise known as community clinics.

 

Often referred to as the “safety net” for low-income and medically underserved communities, community clinics play an essential role in providing affordable, quality healthcare to an ever-growing population of patients. Today’s clinics are modern operations that specialize in primary care and serve any patient who walks through the door, regardless of their ability to pay. They provide patients with a medical “home” where they can receive regular checkups for the whole family and can develop long-term relationships with a primary care doctor.  Many community clinics also provide behavioral health services, dental health services, assistance with enrollment into coverage programs, and referrals for specialty care.

 

Studies have shown that the quality of healthcare provided at community clinics is excellent, patient satisfaction surveys continue to show overwhelming satisfaction with care received. In addition to being high quality, clinic healthcare services are provided in a language that patients can understand and with an appreciation for how different cultures view the medical system. Research has shown that patients who receive care at community clinics have lower medical costs because providing quality primary care services can reduce the need for other ambulatory and hospital-based medical care, thereby lowering overall medical costs. This means that patients are served in a timely and affordable way before they wind up in the emergency room with a condition that could have been prevented. A policy research brief completed by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative found that community clinics save $24 billion annually in medical expenses.

 

The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Healthcare Reform, on March 23, 2010 set the stage to expand healthcare coverage for nearly all Americans and help curb health care costs. Community health centers are well positioned to help the nation achieve both these goals and have, in fact, been touted by policy makers and the President as models of effective, quality and economically savvy healthcare delivery.  President Obama stated in December 2009, “I especially want to recognize the leaders from health centers across the country for what all of you are doing in your communities every day –- working long hours to provide quality care at prices that people can afford, with the dignity and respect they deserve, and in a way that takes into account the challenges that they face in their lives.” As implementation of Healthcare Reform continues, community clinics will play an increasingly critical role in the redesign of the safety-net delivery system and ensure expanded access to care.

The America We Want

Here's a riddle: What steadily shrinks for the first 39 years of its life and grows blazingly fast for the next 30?

(Sorry, gents - the answer's unfortunately not, as a general rule, "my hairline.")

Give up? 

It's the income gap in America - the difference in the percentage of the nation's wealth held by the richest 1% of the population and that held by everyone else.  Without getting into too many details, the more-than-somewhat-alarming fact of life in the USA these days is that if you're at the very top, you're sitting prettier than ever, and if you're not up there, things are looking grimmer.  

PBS had a great segment on this yesterday, which got us thinking.  

It got us thinking about what kind of America we Americans are making with the public policies we're enacting into law.  

Because regardless of what's to blame for the widening gyre that's blasting through the middle class, it seems that at least part of the answer to social inequality has to be wise federal legislation designed to bring us all together on common ground.

Case in point: Federal Healthcare Reform. Which, incidentally, just passed its anniversary. 

Congressman George Miller was in Concord this week to celebrate what the law's already provided to the sick and otherwise hard-to-insure.  He introduced Dr. Walker of CCHS (to whom he referred as his mentor on health policy) and a panel of regular people - from all walks of life - who're now able to access medical care that just months ago would have been totally out of reach.  

And then Mr. Miller said something so spot-on we wrote it down verbatim:

“On the horizon, there’s an insane idea that they can repeal this and replace it with a voucher. A voucher is the most expensive way to do healthcare… I don’t think that’s America. I don’t think it’s our future… As people find out more and more about this plan, I hope they will understand this is a generally great American idea.”

Right and right. Half of Congress is up in arms about how un-American it is to spend tax dollars on greater healthcare access for everyone. But America is what we make it through conscious policy choices. And the America that we here at the Consortium want to see isn't one where 1% of Americans have dream lives and the other 99% just scrapes by. 

One hundred percent of us deserve some basic things equally. Including health care.

In a society wedged further and further apart, Healthcare Reform honors the American ideal that we all have the right to a fair start.  

So, Mr. Miller, count community clinics in for the fight to keep Reform on the books. And thank you, as always, for your leadership!

Explaining our healthcare system to alien invaders

Sometimes the healthcare situation in this state (and this country in general) really makes us want to cry. When things are this bad - as they are now - the only way we know to avoid breaking down into hysterics is to write short fictional pieces in which we imagine being visited by an alien species, unfamiliar to our (in)human(e) ways. 

Here's how a close encounter of the third kind would sound this week:

Alien Invader: Greetings, Earthlings! We have traveled across the Universe to search out new ways of delivering healthcare to our species.  Please teach us how you do this in "California."

Human:  We're happy to explain our healthcare system to you, friendly Alien Invader! But how much time do you have? Our system of medical services makes rocketing across the Universe seem simple by comparison. 

AI: Ah, I see.  Well, our brains are 7 times larger than yours, so go ahead and give it a try.

Human: Okay then, first thing we should say is that every person in California has a right to comprehensive, preventive medical care no matter their income or age.

AI: That's Excellent! Teach us how you do this!

Human: Right, okay, so…. see, you have to understand, the system's not perfect.

AI: No system is.  Except for the solar system.

Human: Yah, for example, every year on January 10, we have a ritual that we call the Governor's Proposed State Budget.  In this ritual, the government proposes stripping tens of thousands of people of their healthcare benefits.  

AI: I see. That does seem like a bit of an imperfection.

Human:  Right now, the state government is proposing the elimination of Adult Day Healthcare services, services that keep low-income elderly people out of nursing homes and hospitals and enrich their lives immeasurably.  

AI: Hmm. Are these cuts being made because there is simply no other choice?

Human: Well, we could modestly raise the cost of registering a car and extend existing taxes for another couple years. 

AI: That doesn't sound so bad.

Human: It does to almost half the Legislature in Sacramento, which refuses to bring the proposal to the public for a vote.

AI: Ah, those legislators must be Romulans.  We know them.

Human: Another ritual we have here on Earth is called, "Devastating common-sense healthcare programs for political gain."

AI: That sounds….fun.

Human: For example, right now our federal House of Representatives has voted to cut 1/3 of all federal funding to community clinics.  It also voted to roll back a set of improvements to the healthcare system that our President, Barack Obama, passed last year.  

AI: We are still waiting to hear how you ensure comprehensive, preventative healthcare to all.

Human: Huh? What? Oh, no no no.  You misunderstood.  

AI: We did?

Human: Right, so what I meant was that everyone has the RIGHT to comprehensive, preventative healthcare. But not everyone actually GETS comprehensive, preventative healthcare.

AI: This does not compute.

Human: Silly Alien Invader - so technologically sophisticated, so politically naive.  

AI: We are going to take off now.  We hear there is a land called "Canada" where people have the right to healthcare and actually get it, too.

Human: Yes, we have another ritual that involves packing our elderly onto busses and driving them north across the border to buy affordable prescription drugs from that land.

AI: You have a remarkable system, here, Human.  We will note it under our "Do Not Adopt" file.  Thank you for your assistance.

Human: Wait, I didn't get to tell you about local healthcare funding!

AI: If you attempt to do so, we will blast you with lasers.

Human: Okay, bye now!

 ---

Well, writing that kept us from crying. But now we're just angry! If you're similarly upset with what's going on with healthcare in this state and country, be sure to sign up to take action on our website (click here). Together, we can make a change. And there's a lot to change.  

 

Saving Medi-Cal will take more than optimism

Have you ever fallen a bit into the red ink with your personal finances? Sure, who hasn't.  Have you then, as a sort of family recovery plan, written a budget that puts you back in the black, but does so based in large part on the expectation that your boss will agree to raise your salary by $12 billion?  

If you answered yes to these questions, you may qualify for a job at the California Department of Finance, or perhaps in the governor's office itself, where the zeitgeist is a certain rose-tinted optimism about the generosity of the California public.  

Specifically, an optimism that in a June special election California voters will agree to extend about $12 billion in what were originally meant to be temporary tax increases.  Absent these tax extensions, the service cuts that Sacramento will have to make in order to balance the state budget will make drastically severe a quaint understatement.  

(As the comic to the right says, if you think the $1.7 billion in Medi-Cal cuts that Gov. Brown proposed in January are bad, consider what they'll be if he's got to find a dozen or so billion more dollars to squeeze out of state programs.)  

Actually, given that taxes do need to be raised somehow, the plan to bring tax extensions to the voters is a politically savvy one, given that it's harder for opponents in the Legislature to block something that's going to The People for approval.  Also, if a recent PPIC poll is any indication, it has at least a chance of succeeding.

To our mind, however, the PPIC poll demonstrates the possibility, but not the probability, of success.  If we - you, us, and all of the People Who Care about Our Community - want to save Medi-Cal and health centers from the chopping block, we've got to get out and vote in June.  

To that end, we at the Consortium are launching a major voter registration push, starting now.  More detail will follow - suffice to say that this will be our top advocacy priority in Spring 2011.  (BTW - if you're reading this and aren't registered - or have moved recently and need to re-register - follow this link to get the quick-and-easy process started.)  

But! We can't do it alone, and so we're writing to say: Join us! If you're an individual who can help out on the campaign to sign up voters, drop us a line and we'll put you to work! If you're an organization that's also doing voter reg. work this spring, let's figure out how we can work together to canvass the whole region.  

Future registered voters of Contra Costa and Solano Counties, we're coming for you! 

New Action Alert Live & Ready for....Action

This week, just a short note to point our faithful readers to Round 2 of our website's new policy advocacy action system, or PAAS. 

Just kidding, there's no way we're calling it PAAS.

But our advocacy action page is live and ready for you to use.  What is it, exactly?  It's an automated system that allows you to send an email to your elected officials regarding important issues on healthcare.  

We've already written the email for you, so all you have to do is plug in some basic info about your address (so the system can find which elected officials are yours) and press Send.  Of course, if you'd like to modify the email text in any way, you can do that, too, and we'll try not to take offense.

This week's issue is the upcoming budget hearings in the Legislature - where cuts to Medi-Cal and Adult Day Health Care are once again on the table.  It's vital that our Senators and Assemblymembers know they can't plan to balance the budget on the backs of our communities!  

Follow this link to the advocacy action center!

And for more background info on the cuts, check out the California Primary Care Network's bullet points here.  

Finally, if you have a better suggestion for what we should be calling this advocacy action system, please let us know.