By Brianna Navarre. Reprinted with permission from US News and World Report.

Two new reports released; webinar offered ways organizations can lead on this critical issue

California is facing a drastic shortfall of behavioral health care providers that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, an aging workforce, high turnover, poor geographic distribution, and a workforce that does not match the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of Californians.

About a third of Californians live in areas where there is a shortage of primary care clinicians. The shortage is particularly acute in rural areas such as the Inland Empire, Northern California and the Sierras, and San Joaquin Valley. The rapidly growing Inland Empire has only 40 primary care physicians per 100,000 people, far below the recommended range of 3,000 to 3,500 physicians.

Access to primary medical care is closely associated with better health outcomes for patients, fewer hospital visits, and longer life spans. Yet in the United States, primary care spending for all payers accounted for merely 4.6% to 12.1% of total health care expenditures, depending on how broadly primary care is defined. For the first time, a national scorecard provides a deep dive into where primary care is lacking within a matrix of recommendations.

By Kathryn E. Phillips, Associate Director, California Health Care Foundation

Photo: Brett Perkinson receives his weekly supply of medically tailored meals delivered from a community-based organization to his home in Aptos, just outside of the city of Santa Cruz. Credit: Shmuel Thaler

Applications for the Cedars-Sinai Managing to Leading program close Friday, March 17

Imagine spending a year with a small cohort of staff from other community clinics achieving personal development goals, learning how to improve health care delivery, receiving coaching on communication and leadership skills, and connecting with a network of peers in Los Angeles – all free of cost.

By Kate Ruder for Kaiser Health News. Reprinted with persmission.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — During her 12-hour overnight shift, Brianna Shelton helps residents at BeeHive Homes Assisted Living go to the bathroom. Many of them have dementia, and some can’t get out of bed on their own. Only a few can remember her name, but that doesn’t matter to her.

“They’re somebody’s mom, somebody’s grandma, somebody’s great-grandmother,” Shelton said. “I want to take care of them like I would take care of my family.”

By Andrew Schwartz with photography by Elisabeth Fall. Reprinted with permission from the UCSF School of Nursing.

The UCSF School of Nursing is partnering with Hartnell College to prepare first-generation-to-college students to become nurses, equipped with the skills to advance health care for residents in the underserved Salinas Valley.

By Dr. Michelle Schneidermann, director of CHCF’s People-Centered Care Team

Thirty-two fellows have been selected for the next round of the CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, which helps clinicians develop and disseminate techniques to improve the operations of California’s safety-net institutions and the state’s overall health care system.