Op-Ed: California Needs Clinical Data To See The Most Vulnerable

Accessing health care in California can be a hurdle in itself. For our low-income, unhoused and vulnerable citizens, many of whom make up the 14 million Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal, finding and returning regularly to a usual source of care can be challenging. In my region of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, about 30% of our population live in an official Health Professional Shortage Area. People residing in the high desert and other communities may not be seen and supported when it matters most for their health.

Our state’s policy reforms have set out to repair this. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) issued a draft of their Population Health Management Strategy and Roadmap, and have emphasized the health and well-being of people through prevention, early identification and optimization. It’s a big step forward in the right direction, and we’re excited to see the state make this important investment. And to make this work and implement the vision of DHCS, we must harness the opportunity to act on the promise of a longitudinal patient record.

Read the article by Jarrod McNaughton, CEO, Inland Empire Health Plan and Chairman of the Board, Manifest MedEx, published in State of Reform.