Ten California counties create networks of care for the uninsured

How do health care providers serve those most likely to slip through the holes in our health care safety-net: the low-income and uninsured? In a new policy brief, researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research examined the progress of 10 California counties to create care networks for their most vulnerable residents as part of the state's Health Care Coverage Initiative (HCCI), a three-year program to expand health care coverage for eligible low-income, uninsured individuals not otherwise covered by Medi-Cal.

The authors examine the counties' efforts to create provider networks based on existing safety-net systems and community providers and describe the types of services and reimbursement methods offered, the health information technologies employed in the effort, as well as plans to further enhance the networks in the future.  
 
"The participating counties have been able to design networks focused on providing coordinated primary and specialty care, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostic services to their uninsured, low-income enrollees," said lead author and Center Research Scientist Dylan Roby. "Previously, these services may have existed in the area, but access for the uninsured was sporadic and resources to support them were limited."

The counties involved in HCCI are: Alameda, Contra Costa, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Ventura.

Read the policy brief:   Creation of Safety-Net Based Provider Networks Under the California Health Care Coverage Initiative: Interim Findings