Recently, California expanded access to Medi-Cal. In this year alone, it is expected that more than 700,000 additional Californians will become eligible for coverage.
One-third of the Medi-Cal population receives care from nonprofit community health centers (CHCs) such as FQHCs, community clinics and free clinics. At Equity Health (formerly South of Market Health Center) located in San Francisco, we serve nearly 4600 patients under this program every year. We provide quality health and wellness services with an emphasis on compassion, prevention, and a patient-centered focus.
We believe that by helping our communities overcome their health challenges, we can help close the gap in health disparities in the areas we serve.
To meet the needs of the rapidly growing Medi-Cal patient population, CHCs like ours must be allowed to expand into new locations, but current law creates major obstacles to establishing new outpatient clinics in California’s most vulnerable communities.
For example, in 2014 Equity Health acquired the Bayview Child Health Center facility owned by Sutter Health, to expand services. We were required to remove brand new flex duct work and replace it with galvanized steel duct work, for an HVAC system that had just been installed by Sutter Health just two months prior to Equity Health acquiring the facility.
These OSHPD 3 requirements resulted in a $500,000 expense and three-month delay in services.
This change not only provides very little health benefits to patients; but adds an immense cost burden to nonprofit CHCs. SB 1382 (Glazer) will start a regulatory process to evaluate what health and safety building standards should change to align with the appropriate acuity level for the type of care CHCs provide.
Equity Health respectfully requests Governor Newsom sign SB 1382 (Glazer) into law. Previous legislation on this issue sought to exempt CHCs entirely from these building standards. However, if signed this compromise bill will allow the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) and the California Building Standards Commission to re-evaluate and update CHC standards through a regulatory process, improving access to care in a safe and effective way.
Right now, CHCs must operate facilities to the same building standards as full-fledged inpatient hospital clinics even though CHC’s only provide outpatient care, which is more similar to a private physicians’ office or county clinic services.
It is important to note that what makes CHCs model of care unique, is our connection to our communities. I applaud our state’s pursuit towards health equity, but to truly achieve equity, the state must give CHCs the flexibility that we need to meet the increased demand for care.
Governor Newsom, Equity Health and CHCs across the state request your signature on SB 1382. (Glazer) With the ever-increasing need for healthcare services in California, CHCs desperately need the flexibility to expand access to health care and address historic healthcare inequities. Together we can work towards the goal of California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) to create a more coordinated, person-centered, and equitable health system that works for all Californians
SB 1382 will work towards that goal, and all that is needed is for the Governor to sign it. Let’s not let an outdated rule slowdown the progress toward equal access to healthcare that is being made in California.
Asa Satariano is the Chief Executive Officer of Equity Health (formerly South of Market Health Center) in San Francisco, where she started as a student intern in 1991. Previously Ms. Satariano served as the health center’s Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Compliance Officer from 2009 to the present day.
