Transforming a Traditional Safety Net into a Coordinated Care System: Lessons from Healthy San Francisco (Health Affairs)

The rest of the nation can learn something about preparing for the profound changes to come under health reform from the City of San Francisco. So say researchers in an article that cites CHIS data published in the journal Health Affairs. Based on lessons from the Healthy San Francisco program, safety-net systems would do well to invest in information technology, establish medical homes, increase coordination of care, and improve customer service as provisions of the national health care reform law phase in. Since 2007, San Francisco has transformed its traditional safety-net health care "system" — in reality, an amalgam of a public hospital, private nonprofit hospitals, public and private clinics, and community health centers — into a comprehensive health care program called "Healthy San Francisco."

Publication Authors:

• Mitchell H. Katz
• Tangerine M. Brigham