Primary Care Matters - California Health Care Foundation

Focusing on Primary Care

For too long, the quality of health care has depended on where patients live, how much money they make, and even the color of their skin.¹ In California there are significant health disparities by race and ethnicity, geography, income and education levels, sexual orientation, and gender identity.² Health care is fragmented and favors treatment over prevention. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Decades of research have shown that increased investments in primary care lead to higher-quality and more equitable care as well as lower costs. Yet the US, on average, spends only about five cents of every health care dollar on primary care, or about one-third of what other high-income countries spend.³

A healthier future for all Californians can be built by reorienting health care back to patients and their relationship with primary care providers, who include physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants that provide comprehensive, generalist care. Primary care providers administer critical first-line care for physical and behavioral health needs. Supported by teams that include community health workers, nurses, behavioral health staff, and others, they help patients diagnose symptoms, prevent disease, manage chronic illness, and overcome social stressors that impact health, such as violence or food insecurity. They also help coordinate care, such as testing and specialist care.

Strengthening primary care means more Californians will have access to a care team in their community who knows them and can advocate for their health in our health care system.

Now a coalition of California health care stakeholders is working to make that happen. Recognizing that changes to our health care system demand partnership, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) has brought together public and private health care purchasers, policymakers, analysis and improvement specialists, consumer advocacy organizations, and funders on primary care investment strategies and activities within the Primary Care Investment Coordinating Group of California (PICG). Since spring 2021, this group has worked to:

Support California-focused research to inform changes in health care policy and industry practices
Identify priorities for measuring, reporting, and assessing the results of primary care spending
Align primary care investment activities and efforts across the state

Shared Commitment to Shift Health Care Priorities

Notably, the state’s major health care purchasers who are part of the PICG have committed to advance these shared principles within their organizations, which provide health coverage for millions of Californians. The shared commitment signals a major shift in priorities for health care in California.

PICG Members

Palav Babaria, MD, Chief Quality Officer and Deputy Director of Quality and Population Health Management, California Department of Health Care Services

Rachel Block, Program Officer, Milbank Memorial Fund

Margareta Brandt, Assistant Deputy Director, Health System Performance, Office of Health Care Affordability, Department of Health Care Access and Information

Kimberly Chen, MPA, Assistant Secretary of Programs & Fiscal Affairs, California Health and Human Services Agency*

Crystal Eubanks, MS, Senior Director, Care Redesign and the California Quality Collaborative, Purchaser Business Group on Health

Julia Logan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, California Public Employees’ Retirement System

Kathryn E. Phillips, MPH, Associate Director, California Health Care Foundation

Taylor Priestley, MSW, MPH, Deputy Director Health Equity & Quality Transformation, Covered California

Kiran Savage-Sangwan, MPA, Executive Director, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network

Raymond Tsai, MD, MS, Vice President of Advanced Primary Care, Purchaser Business Group on Health

Lisa Dulsky Watkins, MD, Director, Multipayer Primary Care Network, Milbank Memorial Fund

Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Health Access California

Dolores Yanagihara, MPH, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Integrated Healthcare Association

*While the California Health and Human Services Agency is represented in the PICG as an active participant, and the recommended actions align with the agency’s vision for strengthening primary care in California’s health care system, the recommendations of the PICG have not been approved or endorsed by the agency.

The Primary Care Investment Coordination Group is staffed by Jill Yegian, PhD (Yegian Health Insights) and Lance Lang, MD.

Filling the California Research Gap: New and Upcoming Studies

CHCF commissioned a national scan of how other states are taking action to increase investment in primary care. This can inform California stakeholders as they consider ways to share information on primary care investment and allocate resources to assure high-quality primary care for all.

Lessons from Other States

In addition, CHCF commissioned a series of reports that examine the current level of investment in primary care in California’s commercial health care market as well as in Medi-Cal. This important new research can help direct new investments that measurably improve primary care, with a first-ever comprehensive data set and findings for the state.

Finally, CHCF’s annual health policy poll examined how the health care experiences of insured respondents who report having a primary care provider differ from those of insured respondents without one. Respondents with a primary care provider (compared to those without) reported fewer negative experiences with health care providers, were more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and prioritize preventive care, and were less likely to skip recommended care due to care.

Poll Findings

Notes

Miranda Dietz et al., Undocumented Californians Projected to Remain the Largest Group of Uninsured in the State in 2022, UC Berkeley Labor Center, April 13, 2021.
Let’s Get Healthy California Task Force Final Report (PDF), State of California, December 19, 2012, 3–4.
Linda McCauley et al., eds., Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care, National Academies Press, 2021.