LA State of Reform Attendees Gain Understanding on Healthcare Policy, CalAIM and More from Health Net Leaders

Date: 10/07/22

As the past few years have brought unprecedented health crises for many Californians, the world of health care has continued to evolve, working overtime to try and meet residents every step of the way. We're doing the same at Health Net, working each and every day to increase access to the highest-quality care for all our members and sharing our knowledge and learned experiences with other health care leaders. Speaking at conferences around the state to provide our input and expertise with attendees is just one of the ways in which we do this.

The State of Reform LA Policy Conference took place on September 22 and brought together leaders across the healthcare industry to discuss healthcare policy, CalAIM and emerging issues facing the community.

Health Net's Allison Barnett, Senior Director of Government Relations, and Nancy Kalev, Senior Director for Systems of Care, both participated in panels throughout the day – "Industry Insiders Discuss Policy" and "Bringing CBOs into Health Care Through CalAIM," respectively.

Industry Insiders Discuss Policy

Allison helped facilitate a panel for representatives from the Civil Justice Association of California and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce to share insights on the most important recent developments in health policy.

Panelists discussed a variety of questions, including:

• Should the city, county and state continue to propose COVID-19 policies as we move past the pandemic?
• What are some of the top liability bills impacting the healthcare industry from 2022?
• With regard for major policy changes, how do you go about advocacy and what does that look like?
• What are the liability trends you are seeing, and what kinds of liability threats can the healthcare industry expect to see in the next legislative cycle?

These topics led to a lively discussion among the participants, and the audience was able to take away some valuable insights from experienced leaders.

Bringing Community-Based Organizations into Health Care Through CalAIM

Nancy was joined by representatives from Mom's Meals and the California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative to discuss the critical role community-based organizations (CBOs) play in many aspects of the statewide CalAIM initiative. This is especially true in the provision of Community Supports, which are services designed to address social drivers that have not historically been covered by Medi-Cal.

Health Net has invested more than $100 million into over 500 community-based organizations and these investments have allowed them to pilot and advance promising ideas, build a foundation for providing Community Supports and sustain critical resources. However, as CBOs are new to managed care, Medi-Cal and CalAIM, they need our ongoing, intensive support and advice as they create brand new back-office operations that are both effective and in compliance with state regulations.

Now, at the nine-month mark of CalAIM implementation, Health Net has identified (PDF) early lessons learned to help inform recommendations for the broader healthcare community.

These insights include:

• Extensive collaboration with plan partners and providers is paramount
• Foundational need for operational support and funding for local providers
• Essential role of timely and complete data sharing

As a health plan, we cannot fix everything alone. We must focus on what we can control – which is finding the right CBO partners, with the right expertise, quality control and bandwidth to drive better health outcomes.

Read more about Health Net's key findings in our issue brief, CalAIM Community Supports: Initial Lessons Learned (PDF).