Biweekly Briefing Articles

5 Things To Know: Workforce, Health Equity Webinars, Behavioral Health, Scholarship and Loan Repayment Programs

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

WORKFORCE: The San Diego Workforce Partnership recently launched the Healthcare Administration Pathways Program. This program will put participants with no health care experience (but preferable experience in hospitality or retail) through the UC San Diego (UCSD) Division of Extended Studies Revenue Cycle and Management Intensive Course at no cost to them. The partnership is working with UCSD, Rady’s Children’s Hospital, and Scripps Health to fill patient access representative I positions in hopes of diversifying the pipeline of workers. Participants who complete the course will also be eligible to sit for the certified revenue cycle specialist exam, which the workforce partnership will also fund. The San Diego Workforce Partnership is looking to expand partnerships with more hospitals in the region for this program. 

HEALTH EQUITY BASICS WEBINAR SERIES: The Hospital Quality Institute (HQI) is offering a two-part webinar series on Health Equity Basics for Hospitals. The aim is to provide hospitals with the latest information on how to operationalize and execute actionable strategies to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities.    

Webinar I: Leveraging Data to Promote Equity of Care, Sept. 1, 10-11 a.m. (PT)   

Objectives include: 

  • Strategies for collecting patient demographic data, along with key lessons learned 
  • Leveraging and stratifying data to develop performance measurement tools, such as equity reports 
  • Reporting, interpreting, and acting on data to develop equity improvement activities 

Webinar II: Designing, Implementing, and Reporting on Interventions to Address Disparities, Sept. 15, 10-11 a.m. (PT) 

Objectives include: 

  • Strategies for dissecting a disparity to understand root causes and opportunities for improvement 
  • Creating a toolkit of disparities interventions that have been proven effective 
  • Leveraging organizational change management strategies to assure sustainability and improved outcomes 

The series will be led by Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, a preeminent national expert on identifying and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care. He is the senior vice president for equity and community health at Massachusetts General Hospital, founder of the Disparities Solutions Center, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing primary care doctor. 

MEDI-CAL: The Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan (MCP) Request for Proposal awards were set to be announced on Aug. 9, but the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) informed the MCPs on Aug. 8 that the notification timeline has been extended to Aug. 25. Updates will be provided as additional details become available. The latest information is available on the DHCS web page

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: The California Health & Human Services Agency Behavioral Health Task Force will hold a Lunch and Learn about the state’s Crisis Care Continuum Plan on Aug. 31 from noon to 12:50 p.m. (PT). The agency is developing a plan to support connections between crisis prevention efforts like warmlines and peer support, 9-8-8 suicide and mental health crisis contact centers, and community-based crisis services at the local level. At this event, the agency will share information to prepare for a discussion on topics related to the quality and sustainability of the continuum plan. The session will be informational and form a foundation for the task force’s September meeting; it will be recorded and posted online. For those who are unable to attend live, please be sure to view the recording ahead of the September meeting, as it will provide important foundational information. 

SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAMS: The Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) has the following open applications. The cycles close on 
Oct. 31. For more information, visit the program pages: 

  • Advanced Practice Healthcare Scholarship Program 
  • Allied Healthcare Scholarship Program 
  • Licensed Mental Health Services Provider Education Program 
  • Steven M. Thompson Physician Corp Loan Repayment Program 

HCAI also has the following upcoming applications. The cycles are open from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1. For more information, visit the program pages:  

  • Allied Healthcare Loan Repayment Program 
  • Bachelor of Science Nursing Loan Repayment Program 
  • Licensed Vocational Nurse Loan Repayment Program