News

New Payment Streams Boost the Community Health Worker/Promotores Field

In California, one of the most culturally diverse states in the country, health care must bridge cultural and linguistic divides to serve all communities equitably. As trusted community members with lived experience, community health workers and promotores de salud (CHW/Ps) are increasingly…

Supporting Access and Equity in Primary Care Through New Payment Models

This panel discusses how Californians can work together to realize a future vision for primary care that addresses the issues of unequal access and disparities in health outcomes. The recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) report on “Implementing High-Quality…

A New Effort to Train Health Workers Reimagines Health Care

Orlando Elizondo has spent a lot of time thinking about how health care is delivered – not in doctor’s offices or emergency rooms, but in the streets, at your front door, at church. He is a consultant whose clients include UC San Francisco, where a years-long effort at the Healthforce Center has…

Community Clinic Case Study: Los Angeles Christian Health Centers Health Home Program

How One Los Angeles Area Clinic Addresses Housing Insecurity and Homelessness Implementing new programs can pose operational challenges for seasoned staff and leaders at any organization. Even with a well-planned approach to program roll out, unforeseen setbacks and difficulties can create…

Five Ways to Cure California’s Doctor Shortage (CHCF)

Source: California Health Care Foundation

The California Improvement Network in 2018: Connections, Learning and Action

As we close up the year, it’s a great opportunity to look back on what we’ve accomplished. The California Improvement Network (CIN), a community that aims to spread better ideas for care delivery, had a busy year establishing connections, learning about quality improvement ideas and innovations,…

16 Workforce Recommendations to Deliver High-Quality Care for People With Serious Illness (Health Affairs)

Healthforce Center at UCSF Associate Director of Research Joanne Spetz, PhD, co-authored a blog in Health Affairs that includes 16 workforce recommendations for field experts, policy makers and health care leaders, to adopt to better meet the needs of an aging population and those dealing with…

After Some Hurdles, California Whole Person Care Pilots Hit Stride

The California Improvement Network (CIN), which is a project of the California Health Care Foundation and administered by Healthforce Center at UCSF, is a community of health care professionals dedicated to driving improvements in patient and provider experience and population health, while…

Boots on the Ground: Community Paramedics’ Experiences in the Field

Since 2015, the California Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) has been testing the viability of asking paramedics to step outside of their traditional scope of practice. Known as Community Paramedicine (CP), or mobile integrated health (MIH-CP), this model of care aims to improve the…

Restrictive Policies (and Politics) Impede Nurses, Fail Patients

Healthforce Center Associate Director of Research Joanne Spetz, PhD, was interviewed for a nursing website (onlinefnpprograms.com) about her research on policies, politics and nursing practice that affect nursing leaders across the country. Below are excerpts from that conversation.

Community Health Worker Joins Movement

As a community health worker (CHW) at Care Connections Program in Los Angeles County, Walfred Lopez acts as a liaison between patients and medical professionals to help people find resources and overcome challenges related to chronic conditions. He’s part of a growing movement of CHWs who…

Community Paramedicine Project Shows Early Success

An independent study by Healthforce Center at UCSF has shown that California’s community paramedicine pilot projects have improved patient well-being and generated savings for insurers and hospitals.