Rod Hochman, M.D.

The California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) has launched a new primary care reporting initiative with the release of “Introducing the Health of Primary Care in California Annual Snapshot.” This annual snapshot will track the health of California’s primary care system, support policy decisions, and help guide investments in primary care infrastructure. Using data from HCAI and partner organizations, the Snapshot will provide actionable metrics and transparent public reporting statewide. Congratulations to our Freedman HealthCare LLC colleagues—Vinayak Sinha, MPH, Julia Sledzik, MPH, and Mary-Isabel Aromando— for their support of this important work advancing California’s vision for primary care. Read the introductory brief here: https://lnkd.in/esfJgCfY

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BREAKING: California's secured $233.6M for Rural Health Transformation! Now the work begins. A huge congratulations to the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), California Department of Health Care Access and Information, and all our state partners on yesterday’s major win, thanks to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program! This is a pivotal moment for our safety net. As part of this historic $50B federal investment, California’s proposal wisely focuses on three critical levers: care model transformation, workforce development, and technology. The goal is ambitious but necessary: building "hub-and-spoke" networks that finally connect primary care, maternal-child health, and behavioral health into seamless systems of care for rural families. At Just Whole Care, we know that funding is only the fuel—the engine is how we operationalize it. This award aligns perfectly with recommendations we helped shape for CMS nearly 5 years ago to the day to do just that (https://lnkd.in/gcB27xt): 🤱 Redefining "postpartum" as a year of continuous dyadic care—supporting both the mother’s recovery and the infant’s social-emotional development. 🤝 Leveraging women-centered models—integrating midwives, doulas, and behavioral health peers and professional directly into the care team to close unconscionable equity gaps. So, how do we make California "RHT-ready"? In our TA work with FQHCs, specialty BH providers, and other CBOs across the state, we are urging leaders to look beyond the grant narrative and build a unified operating model through partnership. Success for this $233M investment will depend on: 1. Braiding Workforce Roles: Don’t just hire more; extend the team you have (and may not know you have). Pair licensed clinicians with Community Health Workers (CHWs), doulas, new 'moderate-risk' TCS, and when needed ECM, to support 0-5 families and manage care continuity. 2. Tiered Escalation: Replace "refer and hope" with explicit partnership agreements. Know exactly who handles Tier 1 universal services navigation versus Tier 3 wraparound perinatal crisis support, and ensure closed-loop handoffs every time. Look for new 'universal managers' DHCS is seeding with TCS. 3. A Digital "Nervous System": Technology can't just be a Zoom link, telehealth consult, or coaching app (all useful, true, though the latter were defunded in the latest state budget). It must include infrastructure that routes data AND patients—especially vulnerable families—where they need to go. Make sure cross-system data sharing, Medi-Cal Connect, and HIEs/CIE's, feature prominently in design and implementation. Big thank you again to CMS for this historic investment in rural health so California can be healthy for all. Let’s get to work building systems that truly serve everyone! JustWholeCare.com #RuralHealth #HealthEquity #MaternalMentalHealth #EarlyChildhood

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At the Southern California State of Reform Health Policy Conference, L.A. Care Health Plan joined fellow leaders to discuss critical statewide policy issues impacting California’s health care system.💬🩺 Dr. Alexander Li, L.A. Care’s Chief Health Equity Officer, participated in the panel “Closing the Gaps: Advancing Timely, Equitable Access to Care in California’s Health System.” He highlighted L.A. Care’s work in field medicine and shared strategies to improve provider access, support healthcare coverage, and advance equity. Charles (Charlie) Robinson, L.A. Care’s Senior Director of Community Health, joined the panel “What is the Future of CalAIM?” He emphasized the importance of preserving programs that address social drivers of health, and stressed that CalAIM’s future must prioritize California’s most vulnerable. L.A. Care is proud to be part of these vital conversations, helping shape policies that promote equity, access, and better health outcomes for all Californians. Read more here: http://spr.ly/6046AQpXs #LACare #StateOfReform #HealthEquity #CalAIM

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ICYMI: “Displacement costs more than a lot of other strategies,” says BHHI Senior Advisor Marc Dones, adding that converting those funds into things like short-term rental assistance would help far more people. Learn how communities can connect people living unsheltered to stable housing instead of relying on costly displacement: https://lnkd.in/gn4eUwte. https://lnkd.in/gensyc_j California Health Care Foundation

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Big news with Allina Health joining Sutter Health! But if you’ve been reading the financials ( fire in the fire place,; glass of red wine) - this didn’t come out of nowhere. We discussed this exact setup in our Health Care MBA class — how financial signals drive strategic outcomes. Three moves over the past few years told the story: 1) Sale of the lab business to Quest- A $230M transaction that helped stabilize near-term performance but divesting a core service line. When you start selling pieces of the operating platform, it’s usually not the end of the story. 2) Outsourcing IT and revenue cycle to Optum This is about cost structure and capability. Reducing fixed costs, gaining scale — but also signaling: “We can’t (or won’t) build this ourselves.” 3) Multiple years of operating pressure Even with improvement, margins remained negative. Put those three together and the direction becomes clearer: 1)Sell assets 2)Outsource capabilities 3)Struggle to restore sustainable margins The next logical step is scale through combination This is what we emphasized in class, the accounting class Finance /Accounting is not just reporting what happened. It is pointing to what will happen next. The Sutter deal is not a surprise — it is the natural strategic outcome of the financial trajectory. And this is the environment we are stepping into: Where strategy is not just vision… it is increasingly determined by the balance sheet and income statement. #Healthcare #HealthcareFinance #Strategy #ExecutiveMBA #Leadership #HealthSystems

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Yesterday, Health Care Foundation for Ventura County (HCFVC) was named an awardee of Action for Women’s Health, a $250 million global open call funded by Pivotal, launched in 2024 to support organizations working to improve women’s mental and physical health around the world. Founded by Melinda French Gates in 2015, Pivotal Ventures works to advance social progress and expand women's power and influence in the U.S. and around the world. HCFVC received between $1 million and $5 million in funding in support of Ventura County Medical Center and Ventura County Health Care Agency. HCFVC is honored to be selected to help steward this impactful funding to Ventura County’s safety-net health and hospital system.

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HCAI announces its new primary care reporting initiative with the release of an introductory brief, "Introducing the Health of Primary Care in California Annual Snapshot!" HCAI is developing the Health of Primary Care in California Annual Snapshot (Primary Care Snapshot) to monitor the primary care sector across the state, inform policy development, and drive improvements to primary care infrastructure. The Primary Care Snapshot will utilize existing data sources across HCAI and other partners to report on relevant, actionable primary care metrics and provide comprehensive public reporting on primary care in California. Introducing the Health of Primary Care in California Annual Snapshot is the first in a series of ongoing annual Primary Care Snapshot products. This introductory brief describes the background and context that led HCAI to launch the Primary Care Snapshot, a baseline overview of the current state of primary care in California, and HCAI’s approach to developing and implementing the Primary Care Snapshot. To read the introductory brief, visit the HCAI Health of Primary Care in California Annual Snapshot webpage: https://bit.ly/4qzw3Gx

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