A public agency
providing health coverage to 2.2M low-income Los Angeles County residents
Determining
how to tackle social determinants of health is not a simple undertaking. They
are numerous and vast, each can be tackled in many different ways, and
resources are limited. L.A. Care had been working to inflect social
determinants for many years, but its efforts were disjointed and uncoordinated
and therefore difficult to track, measure and optimize.
Dr.
Richard Seidman Chief Medical Officer
L.A.
Care wanted to maximize its impact
L.A.
Care’s Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director, and Program Director of Health
Equity set out to revamp the organization’s SDoH strategy and maximize the
impact of its efforts. They began this effort with a review of Advisory Board
research, which helped them to:
·
Develop a framework that prioritizes addressable social
determinants, and that defines how to assess and address them
·
Recognize that many of the resources needed by their members
were already in the community
Richard,
James, and Marina then prioritized five areas that they felt they could
influence and that would move the dial on health outcomes: housing, food
security, income security, transportation, and early childhood education And
for each of these areas, the team defined which quality outcomes they should be
monitoring to assess what is or is not working.
Finally,
their recognition that many essential resources were already in the community
led L.A. Care to double down on strengthening relationships with federal,
state, and community-based organizations versus building programs from scratch.
Marina
Acosta, MPH, Program Director of Health Equity.
Marina
is rolling out a new strategy
Marina’s
first priority is to ensure that the entire organization understands that
social determinants are central to their mission. She conducted training
sessions, developed literature, and educated everyone—from executives to
customer service representatives to her colleagues working with members in L.A
Care’s community resource centers—that social determinants have far more influence
on health outcomes than what happens in the doctor’s office. She wants all of
L.A. Care to also know which five social determinants they have prioritized,
and exactly how they can connect members’ assessed needs to available
resources. L.A. Care has also launched L.A. Care
Community Link, a tool to help their members and the community find
assistance with housing, food, bills and many other needs.
Additionally,
Marina is busy searching for partners to build alliances with so that L.A. Care
can continuously improve the support offered to its members. Some existing
partnerships include:
The
Advisory Board has been an amazing partner. I look at research to help with
strategic planning, and your meetings have helped us find new ideas for L.A.
Care.
Marina
Acosta
Program Director of Health Equity
Program Director of Health Equity
·
Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan —
together the two plans are building additional Community Resource Centers, and
will jointly operate a total of 14 centers located throughout the county by
2024
·
Project Angel Food —
through this partnership, Medi-Cal patients with congestive heart failure who
are at high risk for hospital readmissions are receiving free, low-sodium fresh
meals
·
Brilliant Corners —
this agency and L.A. care are working together to provide stable housing to 300
homeless individuals
L.A.
Care is working closely with the Los Angeles County Department of Public
Health, and is exploring an alliance with the Mexican Consulate. Marina
regularly seeks input from colleagues across the organization, partners and the
broader community to ensure they are focused on their right areas and tactics,
to assess with is working, and to brainstorm solutions to overcome barriers.
Where she identifies critical support gaps that cannot be addressed through
partnership, L.A. Care is committed to developing solutions to close those
gaps, but building strong partnerships has thus far been a fruitful strategic
shift.
How
should your health plan tackle social determinants?
Our
experts have sifted through volumes of literature on social determinants of
health, and have pulled together a concise digest that contains the Advisory
Board’s take on how health plans should address social determinants, plus an
overview of publications that are worth a skim.
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