The California Health Care Foundation helps Californians with low incomes get the health care they need.

California Health Care Foundation

CHCF Health Innovation Fund

The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) is dedicated to advancing meaningful, measurable improvements in the way the health care delivery system provides care to the people of California, particularly those with low incomes and those whose needs are not well served by the status quo. We work to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford.

CHCF informs policymakers and industry leaders, invests in ideas and innovations, and connects with changemakers to create a more responsive, patient-centered health care system.

For more information, visit www.chcf.org.

Thank you for partnering with us! We appreciate all the hard work that went into putting this almanac together.

We're requesting letters of intent - submit your letter by Aug 23!

Using pooled data from our 2021 and 2022 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), a new California Health Care Foundation report examines some of the health inequities and challenges faced by Californians with limited English proficiency.

Among the findings:

📌 People with limited English proficiency (LEP) are much more likely than those without LEP to seek care in a clinic or health center (50% vs. 19%) than a private doctor’s office or HMO-based clinic.

📌 1 in 9 (11%) adult Californians with LEP said that they would have gotten better health care if they were a different race or ethnicity.

📌 California adults with LEP are almost three times more likely than those without LEP to report being in fair/poor health (41% vs. 14%).

Federal law requires Medicaid agencies and health care providers to take reasonable steps to ensure health care access for LEP individuals, including providing interpretation services. However, nearly 1 in 4 (23%) adult Californians with LEP reported that they weren’t aware of their right to interpretative services. People who have been in the country for less than five years are twice as likely to be unaware of this right as those who have been in the US for five years or more (42% vs. 21%).

The report notes that “a very large share of adult Californians with LEP (60%) are enrolled in public health insurance programs, so there is potential for the Medicaid unwinding to have a disproportionate impact on this population. Understanding how and whether these measures shift over time is also important for crafting policy solutions to address disparities for this unique population in California.”

Read the report: https://ucla.in/4fFye6R.

Don't miss the new episode from our partners at Tradeoffs!

I invite you to check out this Center for Health Care Strategies August 21st webinar, made possible by the California Health Care Foundation, featuring two community-based organizations explaining how they braid funding streams within and outside Medi-Cal to deliver integrated whole-person care as part of the CalAIM initiative. Speakers will also discuss the strategies that their organizations use to mitigate the risks of braiding.

Language access in health care has been a passion of mine since I led interpreter services at a prior role years ago. I am excited to be working again in this space to support access to care for those who prefer to receive their health care in a language other than English, including over 10 million Spanish-speaking Latinos/x in California.

Check out a new California Health Care Foundation brief produced by State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) that analyzes CHIS data to explore demographics, health access, and communication barriers. Most telling to me where the findings related to communication that showed Californians with (Limited English Proficiency (LEP) are more likely to report trouble understanding health care providers, 29% of people with LEP who received help understanding their doctor reported using a family member or friend (that's a big NO NO!), and 23% were not aware of their right to an interpreter.

CHCF

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California Health Care Foundation