Podcasts about california healthcare foundation

Over the next three episodes, we're going to talk about why Medicaid matters, and the potential for technology to make it easier for enrollees to access and utilize the program. Our first guest is Mark Smith, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF. He was the founding President and former CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation from 1996-2013, which is where he began his work to improve Medicaid. He experienced Medicaid from a provider perspective when he began his residency during the early days of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco in the 1980s. In this interview, he is joined by a16z Bio + Health venture partner Will Shrank, MD. Together, they discuss Mark's time at CHCF, how Medicaid works, and how founders can potentially partner with the Medicaid program. In future episodes, we'll also hear from Marta Bralic Kerns, founder and CEO of Pomelo Care, and Nikita Singareddy, cofounder and CEO of Fortuna Health. Both companies are directly working with Medicaid patients to make their lives easier.

About a third of Californians live in areas where there is a shortage of primary care providers, according to the California Healthcare Foundation. The shortage is particularly acute in rural areas and in the rapidly growing Inland Empire, which has only about 40 primary care physicians per 100,000 people. For patients, a short supply of doctors can mean months-long waits for appointments and more trips to urgent care for chronic conditions. And for in-demand providers, burnout looms. We'll learn about plans to address the shortage and hear about your experiences finding a primary care professional. Guests: Arturo Bustamante, professor of health policy and management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Timothy Collins, incoming CEO, UC Riverside Health Sunita Mutha, general internist providing primary care; professor of medicine and director, Healthforce Center at UCSF Nate McLaughlin, family medicine doctor; program director, Family Medicine Program, Riverside University Health Services/UC Riverside

Even though we are all tired of the Covid 19 pandemic, the pandemic is not through with us. In fact, the new variant BA.5 is so contagious that it is evading our immunity. The good news is that Vaccines and Boosters are helping to reduce the severity of Covid infections and that wearing N95 masks can still protect us from catching and spreading this virus.There are serious potential health consequences of getting infected with Covid:*It can affect multiple organs and systems*It resolves in some but remains persistent in others*It can be very debilitating*Its pathology is still not totally understood*You can get infected with Covid multiple times* People are dying from Covid#stopthespread#getvaccinated#wearamask#protectothers#gentecare#healthcareuntold@gmail.com#californiahealthfoundation  

July 20, 2022 — A recent announcement by Adventist Health about its negotiations with Anthem Blue Cross, the county's main insurance provider, has caused widespread panic. The contract between Anthem and Adventist, a faith-based nonprofit hospital system that manages all three of the county's hospitals, was originally due to expire on July 18, but has been extended to August first. Adventist posted FAQs on its website this week, directing patients to call the number on their insurance card for answers to most questions. But patients are advised that if they are in the hospital after midnight on August first, Anthem could choose to transfer them to another hospital. Some patients may be able to continue receiving care for some time as a “continuity of care service.” In a letter to patients last month, Adventist claimed that Anthem has enjoyed record profits for the past two years, but continues to pay Adventist “substantially less than other hospital systems. Anthem is one of our lowest-paying health plans, and we can't continue to provide quality care for patients at such significantly reduced rates.” Adventist offered to be interviewed on this subject, but we declined because President Judson Howe refuses to speak to us about the faith-based hospital's policies on abortion, which remains legal in the state of California. Recent studies show that much of the high cost of doing medicine in the state of California is due to a lack of competition, both in healthcare and insurance markets. According to a study by the California Healthcare Foundation, titled, “Markets or Monopolies,” “the preponderance of evidence suggests that hospital consolidation leads to higher prices… Furthermore, workers bear the burden of these increased premiums as employers depress wages to pay more for health insurance coverage.” The MediCare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress in 2018 that “hospitals with large market shares have the leverage to negotiate relatively high prices from commercial insurers.” This affects small local governments offering employer insurance, as well as private citizens who pay for their own coverage. The county's health plan is currently close to $5 million in the hole, with the county paying about 81% of the cost of skyrocketing claims, according to a presentation by Deputy CEO Cherie Johnson during last month's budget hearings. “So we would really need to change our whole plan,” she told the Board of Supervisors. “We need to be looking at the deductibles, the co-insurances…Fully insured is where we're looking at, so we know, with a fully insured plan, what your payments are every single month. Right now, we don't know. We project what we believe our monthlies will be, but it's unpredictable. We could get a $60,000 claim week, and then the next week, we could get $116,000.” Julie Beardsley, President of SEIU Local 1021, which represents most county workers, said it's time to cut loose. The union is in a battle with the county, which is offering a 0% cost of living allowance. “The county has been stalling about looking into new plans,” she said at a union rally during the budget hearings. “Obviously Adventist has kind of monopoly here in the county and they can charge whatever they want, but we need to look at other plans.” Adventist told its patients that in the last five years, it's given away more than $276 million in charity to those in need. We have not had the opportunity to review detailed financial information for Adventist Health. But according to a report by Stat, a healthcare-focused news website produced by Boston Globe Media, nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. received an estimated $25 billion in tax exemptions in 2015. Its authors, Ge Bai and David A. Hyman, write that “many nonprofit hospitals do not provide enough charity care to justify their exemptions…More than one-third of nonprofit hospitals (36%) provided less than $1 of charity care for every $100 in total expenses.” Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from federal, state, and local property taxes, and donations to them are tax-deductible. Ge and Hyman argue that, “If nonprofit hospitals are unwilling to provide sufficient charity care to justify the amount of their current tax exemption, there is no reason we should deprive local communities of the property tax revenues that allow them to fund local schools, parks, and other public services.” Assembly member JimWood's office responded to our inquiries with a statement reading in part that the Assembly member understands that, “In this case, Adventist is the one initiating the action to renegotiate, requesting higher reimbursements in a number of areas…On the other hand, Anthem is seeking an agreement that would not reflect significant cost increases to the employers, employees or others with Anthem coverage. It's important to note that the entities being affected, such as the school districts, city of Ukiah and (the) county, are self-insured and, as such, are tax-payer funded and can only absorb certain cost increases before they have to look for other ways to make it up, like cutting costs. This is not a situation that Asm. Wood wants to see happen and commends these self-insured entities for being responsible to the taxpayers and by pushing back against any attempt to raise the cost of coverage beyond what they can afford.” Some of the largest employers in the county, including the county government, the city of Ukiah, and the Ukiah Unified School District, rely on Anthem for their insurance. The county has 961 employees with 810 dependents, while the school district has about 750 employees with approximately 350 dependents. The city of Ukiah has 194 workers and 234 dependents, and is consulting with a regional insurance provider about its options. If the contract between the hospital system and the insurance provider is terminated, people with Anthem will have to pay out-of-network costs at Adventist facilities. After last month's healthcare presentation during budget hearings, Supervisor Ted Williams said the choices seem to be to continue to invest in an ever more expensive system, or look to the state and federal government for a whole new system. “We can ask staff to shop around, try to find a creative solution, (but) the bottom line is, without a single payer solution, or some national and state level solution, we're going to see continued increase in health costs. And the only answer is, we need to contribute more.”

Since the inception of the HealthCare Untold Podcast, I wanted to record an episode about Latinos' own version of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. When the earthquake hit, I was the Executive Director of Salud Para La Gente, a farmworker clinic in Watsonville, and what I experienced and witnessed first-hand during this ordeal was life changing.  These same feelings were sparked during the Covid-19 Pandemic as our podcast captured the voices and work of Latinos and others who stepped up and organized to provide the  support and services to those in need in LatinX communities around the country.It's been 32 years since the 1989 Loma Prieta staff and volunteers of  Salud Para La Gente  served over 10,000 people with medical and mental health services as well as with clothing, food and monetary support. This type of timely and life-saving support is exactly what our community organizations are doing around the country today, support all made possible by committed  staff, funders, donors, and volunteers.  This podcast episodes includes testimonials of those involved in response to the earthquake and a discussion with Dr. Sandra Hernandez, CEO of the California Healthcare Foundation, about the traditional phases of disaster management: preparedness, response and recovery. The lessons learned from today's responses  to the California Fires and Covid-19 Pandemic are the same: the importance of serving our most vulnerable communities with dignity and respect.As Mayor Oscar Rios shares the multiple improvements of Latinx civic leadership  since the earthquake 32 years ago in Watsonville, I can't help but wonder about the future for our communities post Covid-19. My experiences have shown over and again that when people come together to solve a crisis, we can permanently make the world a better place. This has become my central thesis and philosophy for public health as you will hear reflected in our podcast, HealthCare UnTold.       

On today’s podcast, I'm excited to talk with Kimberly Seals Allers. Kimberly is an award-winning journalist, five-time author, international speaker, strategist, and advocate for maternal and infant health. A former senior editor at Essence, and a writer at Fortune Magazine, Kimberly is a leading voice on the socio-cultural complexities of motherhood. Kimberly is also the founder of Irth, a new app to address bias in maternity and infant care. We talk about how Kimberly’s new app, Irth, which addresses biased maternal care and cultural competency when serving marginalized communities. We also talk about the challenges Kimberly overcame after launching Irth.   **Content Warning: We discuss racism/racial violence, Black maternal mortality, and infant mortality.** Learn more about Kimberly Seals Allers and the Irth app here (https://birthwithoutbias.com/who-we-are). Follow Kimberly Seals Allers on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/iamKSealsAllers/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/iamksealsallers/?hl=en). Learn about Narrative Nation, Inc here (https://wewriteus.org/). Learn more about Kimberly’s books, “Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy” here (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-mocha-manual-to-a-fabulous-pregnancy-kimberly-seals-allers) and “The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding” here (https://www.amazon.com/Big-Letdown-Medicine-Undermine-Breastfeeding/dp/1250026962).  Learn more about Dr. Fleda Mask Jackson here (https://drfledamjackson.com/).  Learn more about Cristen Pascucci and Birth Monopoly here (https://birthmonopoly.com/). Follow Birth Monopoly on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/birthmonopoly/) and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/birthmonopoly/?hl=en). Learn more about the California Healthcare Foundation here (https://www.chcf.org/). Follow the California Healthcare Foundation on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/chcfnews/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/chcfnews). Learn more about the Tower Health Foundation here (https://www.towerhealth.org/reading-hospital-foundation).  Learn more about the Grove Foundation here (https://www.thegrovefoundation.org/).  Learn more about the Kellogg Foundation here (https://www.wkkf.org/). Follow the Kellogg Foundation on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KelloggFoundation), Twitter (https://twitter.com/wk_kellogg_fdn), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kelloggfoundation/). For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EvidenceBasedBirth/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ebbirth/), and Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/ebbirth/). Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/). Find an EBB Instructor here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/find-an-instructor-parents/), and click here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/childbirth-class/) to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

Without the Opera House, Long Beach Performers Get Creative The coronavirus has shuttered live performance venues and created enormous headaches for California's theaters, symphonies, and opera companies. That includes Long Beach Opera. Guest: Jennifer Rivera, Long Beach Opera executive director Kincade Fire Caused By PG&E Power Lines, Says CalFire State fire investigators have ruled that last fall's Kincade Fire in Sonoma County was caused by power lines belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric. Lily Jamali, KQED Judge Set to Uphold California's Ban on Private Prisons A federal judge in San Diego is set to allow parts of California’s ban on private prisons to move forward. The ban includes immigration detention centers. Max Rivlin-Nadler, KPBS With Visits Off-limits, Nursing Home Staff Step Up COVID-19 cases are surging again in California, calling into question the health and safety of some of our most vulnerable: the elderly. Benjamin Gottlief, KCRW Most Nursing Home Staff Know Co-worker Infected by Covid-19, New Poll Shows A new poll by the California Healthcare Foundation finds more than three quarters of the state’s nursing home employees say they know a coworker who’s had COVID-19, or are part of a staff with suspected cases. Former San Quentin Inmate Fights for Friends Still Behind Bars Adnan Khan got life in prison but was freed after 16 years thanks to a new law that challenged his sentence. He says the state is not doing enough to protect prisoners who are getting sick, and he’s calling on Governor Newsom and prison officials to step up. Sasha Khokha, The California Report Magazine

Tom X. Lee, MD, is the CEO and founder behind Galileo Health, a telemedicine company that aims to provide quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible to everyone. He has a track record of innovation that bridges technology and healthcare. Before founding Galileo, he created Epocrates, the very first medical app on Apple's mobile platform, currently used by millions of healthcare professionals to reduce medical errors. He later went on to create One Medical Group, a membership-based primary care practice which IPO’d earlier this year, valued at more than $1.5 billion. From 2000 to 2007, Lee served as an associate at the University of California, San Francisco. Before that, he was a senior program officer at California HealthCare Foundation. Lee holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and master’s degree from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He also holds a medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine. Tom Lee is a true health pioneer whose passion and professional interests are driven by his internal desire to help people. He believes in elevating the quality of healthcare for all. During the fight against COVID-19, he strives to give access to good healthcare to those who need it most.

Ep. 53: LaVera Crawley and Alec MacLeod are an interracial couple.  LaVera is a African-American doctor, who grew up in Cincinnati, received her undergraduate and medical degrees at Historically Black Colleges, worked on a Navajo reservation as a M.D., and now serves as a Palliative Care Chaplain.  In the field of medicine and ethics, LaVera is internationally known for her work on health disparities for palliative and end-of-life (EOL) care. She served as an expert on racial, ethnic, and cultural issues for the 2004 NIH State-of-the-Science of EOL Care Consensus Conference; was commissioned by the California Healthcare Foundation to conduct an in-depth summary of EOL health care delivery for California’s multi-ethnic, multicultural, and racially diverse population; and served a 3-year appointment as an ethics advisor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was honored with the Soros Faculty Scholars Award for the Open Society Institute's Project on Death in America in 1999-2001, The Howard Temin Award from the National Cancer Institute in 2003-2008, and the Stanford University Faculty Fellows Award in 2007. After a 16+ year career at Stanford as an empirical bioethicist, LaVera Crawley embarked on a new career in the art of spiritual companionship, bringing together her work in medicine, ethics, social justice, teaching, research, and public health with her longstanding interest in spirituality. After completing her clinical pastoral education (CPE) in chaplaincy, she began serving in her current role as a Palliative Care Chaplain at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. She is also in training to become an Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) Certified Supervisor. Inspired by the Schwartz Center’s Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program for Healthcare Providers, LaVera’s goal as a Chaplain Supervisor is to create and implement a CPE Fellows Program for physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and other healthcare professionals to enhance provider skills and competencies in addressing the spiritual, existential, and religious needs of patients and families facing life-threatening illnesses. Her husband, Alec MacLeod, is a White man of Dutch an English extraction, who grew up in rural, upstate New York,lec MacLeod is a Professor in Undergraduate Studies. He received his undergraduate education at Hampshire College where he studied philosophy and fine arts. Alec also holds a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from Stanford University (1983) and has studied information science at the University of California at Berkeley. His primary areas of preparation are in the studio arts, art theory and information science. He is a practicing visual artist whose work has been exhibited nationally. Additionally, his work in the area of cultural studies includes the visual culture of the internet (especially implicit assumptions in the design of graphical user interfaces), representations of "the Other" in U.S. colloquial English, and visual explorations of theories of perception. As an educator, Alec has used participatory collaborative methods of inquiry to explore the ways in which pedagogical approaches can assist learners in examining and changing their assumptions about race and ethnicity. He has trained as a multicultural trainer at Equity Institute and Visions, Inc. A member of a research collective, the European-American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness, he has participated in an inquiry into white identity and ways in which white people can become more aware of their identity and its implications. The group has presented its work at educational conferences and recently authored an article entitled "White on White: Communicating about Race and White Privilege with Critical Humility" in Understanding & Dismantling Privilege: the Journal of the White Privilege Conference. Alec has over twenty-five years of experience as a facilitator of learning in higher education as a classroom teacher and as an administrator. He was a member of the design team for the undergraduate cohort based degree completion program and the inaugural director of that program. In addition to his interdisciplinary courses in the Undergraduate program, Alec teaches courses in visual thinking, creativity, and visual culture. Listen as LaVera and Alec speak with Alex about their marriage, their careers, and their views on race and diversity. For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST   Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Listen NowCalifornia has been long known for health care delivery and payment reform (think, for example, Kaiser Permanente).   With efforts nation-wide to better align health care quality and patient outcomes with reimbursement or savings efficiency, related efforts in California are carefully watched and studied.     During this 23 minute conversation Dr. Jill Yegian briefly outlines the work if the California Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), provides an overview of the California healthcare payment reform landscape, discusses specifically IHA's value-based pay for performance work involving 10 health plans, 200 physician organizations and nine million Californians, discusses quality measurement including "resource use" and "total cost of care" and identifies lessons learned from IHA's activities.     Dr. Jill Yegian, is the Senior VP for Programs and Policy at the California Integrated Healthcare Association where she oversees IHA's work regarding care integration, performance measurement and reporting and payment innovation.   Previously, she co-directed the American Institutes for Research Health Policy and Research Group, a team of over 70 health services research professionals.   Prior still Dr. Yegian worked with the California Healthcare Foundation where her focus was on improving the state's healthcare financing and delivery system.  Dr. Yegian is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and is a frequent conference speaker.  She was graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Ph.D. in health services and she earned her undergraduate degree in human biology at Stanford. For more on IHA's work go to: www.iha.org This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com

Andy Krackov, Associate Director of External Engagement at California HealthCare Foundation, discusses the tremendous potential open data has to raise awareness, change policy and impact behavior change - and how CHCF is involved with this change. GUEST: Andy Krackov, California HealthCare Foundation HOST: Unity Stoakes LOCATION: Health 2.0 Fall 2015 Conference, Santa Clara, CA IN THIS EPISODE: The Mission of California HealthCare Foundation Importance of Open Data Focusing on the Last Step of the Process

Dana Goldman is a Professor and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Director’s Chair at the University of Southern California. Until Fall 2009, he held RAND’s Distinguished Chair in Health Economics and directed RAND’s program in Economics, Finance, and Organization. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Health Services and Radiology at UCLA. Dr. Goldman is a nationally-recognized health economist influential in both academic and policy circles. He is the author of over 100 articles and book chapters, including articles in some of the most prestigious medical, economic, health policy, and statistics journals. He is a health policy advisor to the Congressional Budget Office, and is a frequent speaker on health care issues. He serves on several editorial boards including Health Affairs and the American Journal of Managed Care. He is also a founding editor of the Forum for Health Economics and Policy, an online journal devoted to health economics and health policy. Dr. Goldman’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Business Week, U.S. News and World Report, The Economist, NBC Nightly News, CNN, National Public Radio, and other media. Dr. Goldman was the 2009 recipient of the Eugene Garfield Economic Impact Prize, recognizing outstanding research demonstrating how medical research impacts the economy. He was awarded the National Institute for Health Care Management Research Foundation award for excellence in health policy, and the Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award recognizing the contributions of a young scholar to the field of health services research. He also has served on several panels for the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine, including a current panel on the fiscal future of the United States. Dr. Goldman’s research sponsors include the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, National Cancer Institute, National Science Foundation, Amgen, Merck, Genentech, Pfizer, UnitedHealth, Pacificare, California Healthcare Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Labor, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Goldman is also a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, the nation’s leading economic research organization. He is the director of the RAND/UCLA Health Services Research Postdoctoral Training Program. He is also a founder and managing director of Precision Health Economics, a consulting firm to the health care industry. Dr. Goldman received his B.A. summa cum laude from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.

On the Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 program at 11AM Pacific and 2PM Eastern, thought leader, blogger, lecturer and consultant Kent Bottles, MD, returns for an encore conversation. We'll highlight key points in several of the recent reports issued, here(http://bit.ly/idB1Fr), here (http://bit.ly/g2Lw3a) and here (http://bit.ly/hmH88S), by the Center for American Progress, the California Healthcare Foundation, and Health Affairs, respectively on ACOs, and provide somewhat of a primer for physicians who may not be familiar with the PPACA's ('ACA') provisions and the enabling language defining Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the ACA. We'll highlight key points in several of the recent reports issued, here, here and here, by the Center for American Progress, the California Healthcare Foundation, and Health Affairs, respectively on ACOs, and provide somewhat of a primer for physicians who may not be familiar with the PPACA's ('ACA') provisions and the enabling language defining Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the ACA. We'll also discuss the pros and cons of physicians working with or without a hospital partner. Please join us!

The latest innovations in medicine seem like the stuff of science fiction: edible pills that can sense, monitor, and report on vital signs from within the body; a stick-on heart monitor that communicates wirelessly with patient and doctor; robotic surgical tools that reduce or eliminate invasive procedures. Medical advances past — from the discovery of antibiotics to the development of organ transplant procedures — certainly transformed the practice of medicine, but today’s technologies could revolutionize care, taking it out of hospitals and doctors’ offices. How will new technologies change the way we manage, receive and conceptualize healthcare, and are doctors ready for the change? Zócalo invited a panel including moderator Sarah Varney, Proteus Biomedical’s Greg Moon, USC bioethicist Michael Shapiro, and Leslie Saxon of the USC Center for Body Computing to explore the vanguard of medical technology, and how it will transform our health. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.

Many of us turn to Google at the first sign of sickness, and over the past few years, more and more doctors have started to meet us there. Boutique practices promise easy e-mail correspondence with doctors — along with unlimited in-person access — for a flat fee of a few grand. Kaiser guarantees 24-hour response times for any inquiries made to doctors online. And countless websites, from WebMD to ailment-specific chat rooms, offer easy medical advice, sometimes over webcams. But for all the ease of access — and the improved care it could bring to rural or poor patients — most doctors don’t get paid for online consultations, and medical advice sites aren’t clearly regulated. What are the opportunities and dangers of online care? Zócalo invited a panel including Health 2.0 co-founder Indu Subaiya, co-chair of the Society for Participatory Medicine and e-Patients.net blogger Dave de Bronkart, One Medical Group Founder and CEO Thomas Lee, and MedSimple founder Francis Kong to consider how the Internet is changing the way we care for ourselves. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.

After a long and bruising legislative battle, President Barack Obama signed national healthcare reform into law. The plan promises coverage to the uninsured, lower healthcare costs for small businesses, and tighter regulation of insurance companies, preventing them from denying care to the sick. The reform comes at a crucial time for California. The economic crisis has left the state considering cuts to its healthcare programs, particularly for the elderly and the disabled. With nearly one in four of its residents lacking access to care, California has the highest number of uninsured people of any state. What does national healthcare reform mean for California? Zócalo invited the L.A. Times’ Duke Helfand, the California HealthCare Foundation's Marian Mulkey, Jan Spencley of San Diegans for Healthcare Coverage, Small Business Majority Founder and CEO John Arensmeyer, and Lucien Wulsin of the Insure the Uninsured Project to consider how reform will help Californians, how it will impact local businesses, insurers, and hospitals, and how it might fall short. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.

Keeping our elderly parents healthy, particularly when they have a chronic illness or disability, can be a demanding full-time job. Though 70 percent of all elderly are cared for by family and friends, assisted living and nursing homes fill the gap in care in cases too challenging for even the most devoted families. Long-term care can require close medical attention multiple times a day, combined with assistance performing the basic tasks of daily life, like dressing and bathing, and providing mental health support. Nine million men and women over the age of 65 will need long-term care this year; by 2020, that number will rise to 12 million. The elderly will have a 40 percent chance of entering a nursing home, and about 10 percent of those will stay five years or more. These men and women and their families will face the difficult decision of where to seek and how to manage long-term care. They often have to make these decisions without reliable information about what types of care are available and appropriate, or which facilities and services offer the highest quality care. With the California HealthCare Foundation’s newly-launched ratings website making it easier to find quality long-term care, Zócalo hosted a panel of experts including — Debra Saliba of UCLA, California Culture Change Coalition Executive Director Bonnie Darwin, Gary Passmore of the Congress of California Seniors, and Gretchen Alkema of the SCAN Foundation — to discuss what we should do when we, or our parents, need help making these decisions. This event was made possible by the California HealthCare Foundation.

As healthcare costs rise and job losses leave many uninsured, Americans turn abroad for medical care. Is globalized medicine an efficient way to provide care at lower costs? And what does the trend say about our healthcare system, and how it might improve quality while increasing affordability? Zócalo hosted a panel of experts—including Arnold Milstein, U.S. Health Care Thought Leader, Mercer, John A Gillean, senior vice president and chief medical officer of CHRISTUS Health, Elizabeth A. Martinez, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Peter Hayes, health benefits strategist at Hannaford Bros. Co—to discuss the future of medical tourism. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.

Thanks to medical advances, we now live longer, but living longer doesn’t necessarily make death any easier when it comes. Forget the good life, what in this world makes a good death? How does culture affect our choices? Palliative care offers some relief to suffering, yet it is our uncertainty about the end of life that keeps our dread alive. Experts visit Zócalo to share first-hand accounts and clinical insight: Dr. Susan Stone, the Director of Palliative Care at the Los Angeles County Medical Center; Dr. Betty Ferrell of the City of Hope National Medical Center; and moderator Dr. Michael Wilkes, Vice Dean for Medical Education at UC Davis, join us for an evening of big questions that demand courage, compassion, and a dash of wit. (This event is made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.)