SNI Forward, November 2023

Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of SNI Forward! We’ve got some exciting updates to share with you as we work toward the new year.

We continue to develop our newest program aimed at strengthening partnerships between public health care systems and local health plans. Teaming up with the Local Health Plans of California (LHPC), we’ve formed an advisory group of health system and plan leaders. In January 2024, we’ll host the first in-person gathering for systems and plans to explore ways to collaborate more effectively to enhance care quality. In 2024, we’ll also focus on improving data exchange between systems and local health plans – more on that below.

Looking ahead to the new year, we’re also revamping our primary and ambulatory care programming to align with CalAIM, the FQHC Alternative Payment Model pilot, and other state initiatives while continuing to support member success in the Quality Incentive Pool (QIP). Several focus areas for 2024 have emerged out of conversations with our advisory group, including a focus on efficiency and workforce wellbeing, primary care-behavioral health integration, and transitions of care.

Last but not least, our annual conference is coming up fast! Join us at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach December 6-8 for Stronger Together: 40 Years of Collaboration.

Read on for more news on SNI’s recent visits to member systems, efforts to support racial equity and data exchange, and our members’ important role in CalAIM.

SNI Visits Two Member Systems

In October, SNI traveled to Riverside University Health System (RUHS) and Ventura County Health Care Agency to meet with leadership, tour the facilities, and see their work in action. We were inspired to learn how both systems are advancing true integration across service lines and partners.

 

SNI tours the RUHS Jurupa Valley Community Health Center

In Riverside, among other sites, we visited Jurupa Valley Community Health Center, where RUHS has set up an innovative Family Resource Center in partnership with First Five California and the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services. Between the community health center and the Family Resource Center, patients have access to primary, perinatal and podiatry care, dental and behavioral health services, Medi-Cal eligibility specialists, reading groups for children, social services, and connections to food banks, housing services, WIC, and more.

 

SNI meets with VCHCA leadership in October

In Ventura, we met with key leaders to discuss their CalAIM “hub” model, among other initiatives. The agency, serving as a hub for CalAIM, collaborates with Gold Coast Health Plan, the county public health department, Area Agencies on Aging, and community-based organizations to provide Enhanced Care Management (ECM) to nearly all populations of focus and offer 12 of the 14 Community Supports. They’ve doubled the number of individuals served by ECM since it started in January 2022 and served thousands through Community Supports.

We truly appreciate the opportunity to meet in person with members and look forward to future site visits in 2024!

Racial Equity Community of Practice – Celebrating Phase 1 and Launching Phase 2

To help public health care systems advance racial equity within their organizations, SNI launched a groundbreaking program – the Racial Equity Community of Practice (CoP) – in partnership with the National Equity Project (NEP) in 2022. The CoP is funded by the California Health Care Foundation. The first phase, which brought together 12 public health care systems across California, represented a significant milestone in developing systems’ leadership capacity to make organizational change and fostering peer learning and action in the pursuit of equitable health care. Building on the past 18 months’ momentum, Phase 2 of the Community of Practice kicked off on November 15, 2023, with its first in-person session.

View CoP video testimonials, External Evaluation Summary, Lessons Learned Briefs, and Final Report on SNI website

Data Exchange – A work in progress

Data exchange is a foundational capability for public health care systems, particularly as the State becomes more focused on cross-sector partnerships that require sharing information across providers. SNI is helping members build capacity to exchange data across multiple programs.

In October, we arranged for Chief Informatics Officers and Chief Medical Informatics Officers to meet with John Ohanian, Chief Data Officer for California Health and Human Services, to discuss expectations for the Data Exchange Framework and provide a forum where members could dialogue with the State. Similarly, we invited Dr. Palav Barbaria, Chief Quality and Medical Officer for the Department of Health Care Services, to present the State’s vision for QIP in the coming years – and how improving data concordance and exchange between public health care systems and Medi-Cal managed care plans fits into that vision.

In 2024, SNI and LHPC will investigate the drivers behind the mismatch in data and performance rates for systems and plans. We hope to identify solutions that will improve data concordance between systems and plans, share those findings at a future SNI convening focused on data exchange, and inform future efforts at the State level.

Counties Lean into CalAIM

The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) has released a paper on the role of counties in leading the implementation of CalAIM. Two of our members, Ventura County Health Care Agency and Contra Costa Health Services, share their experiences implementing Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports, providing integrated health services and social supports for the highest need Medi-Cal patients. The piece highlights the important role of public health care systems in helping the State realize its vision for CalAIM.