L.A. Care Health Plan Health and Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan to invest $146 Million to improve member and community health
Health Plans to jointly operate 14 community resource centers across Los Angeles County growth plan aims to serve more than one million when fully operational
Today, Blue Shield of California and L.A. Care Health Plan, announced they will invest a combined $146 million over five years to improve member and community health across LA for more than one million people. The collaboration, which will support operations for 14 community resource centers, will be focused on improving local health outcomes, quality of life and reducing care costs.
The Bigger Picture
As healthcare increasingly becomes more local and more holistic, the resource centers will offer a slew of health resources to help manage total health, including social needs, as well as offer telehealth and care screenings on-site to help bridge quality and care access issues frequently faced across LA county. Over the next five years, Blue Shield and L.A. Care will jointly open seven new resource centers, remodel four existing centers and relocate three other existing centers to larger locations. In total, they will jointly operate 14 resource centers in L.A. County. Each center will serve approximately 72,000 people per year when services and staff are fully built out, serving more than one million Angelenos annually.
L.A. Care and Blue Shield Promise each opened their own resource centers more than a decade ago to provide members and the entire community a fun and engaging space to improve their health and wellness through a range of exercise, nutrition, parenting, and health management classes at no cost.
New Resource Center Services
The new resource center collaboration will allow these community destinations to offer classes and personalized services in a fun, safe and inclusive environment that will help visitors stay active, healthy and informed. The services include additional health screenings and on-site care management for health plan members and access to an onsite Department of Public Social Services worker and nutritionist at some locations. To bridge quality and access to care issues, these centers will also offer telehealth and health care applications support to help build members’ capacity to manage their own health. Child care is offered at no cost to ensure parents in each community can take full advantage of the classes.
The centers will also provide on-site support from community social service organizations focused on addressing the social needs of health such as food and income insecurity. By connecting members to these resources, they will be able to take an active role in their health care decisions and overall wellness. This collaboration will enhance community connections, address social needs and improve overall health outcomes for members and the entire community.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with L.A. Care to bring more health care resources directly into Los Angeles neighborhoods. We will provide residents support through services such as telehealth and community health advocates to provide personalized information and care to help them achieve and maintain good health,” said Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California.
