Modernizing Payment to California’s Community Health Centers

Health centers are crucial to California's response to COVID-19. But the care they provide is still dictated by old payment rules that severely hamper health centers' ability to care for patients during COVID-19 and, in some cases, keep their doors open. This collection focuses on how California can change the way it pays health centers to better serve patients and to create a more resilient foundation for primary care in Medi-Cal.

Video: How Health Center Patients Benefit Under Patient-Centered Payment

Payment & Financing, Medi-Cal

This short animated video explains how old payment rules are hurting three fictional health center patients, Veronica, Michael, and Janelle, and how each would benefit under the switch to patient-centered payment.

Infographic — Old Payment Rules Are Hurting Health Center Patients During the COVID-19 Crisis

Payment & Financing, Medi-Cal

Old payment rules are hindering the ability of FQHCs and FQHC Look-Alikes (health centers) to care for their approximately four million Medi-Cal patients, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. This infographic shows what kind of care is possible for patients under traditional versus patient-centered payment.

Time to Modernize Payment to Health Centers

Medi-Cal, Payment & Financing

This issue brief outlines why these old payment rules are hurting patients during the COVID-19 crisis, and how transitioning to a new way of paying for care, called patient-centered payment, will allow health centers to better serve patients going forward.

How Health Centers Can Improve Patient Care Through Value-Based Payment Models

Center for Health Care Strategies

Payment & Financing, Medi-Cal

Patients in health centers across the country are benefiting from state-led value-based payment models that reward high-quality, cost-effective care. The value-based payment models described in this brief aim to provide patients with coordinated, team-based health care that is convenient to access and best meets their needs.

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Accelerating Value-Based Payment in California’s Federally Qualified Health Centers: Options for Medicaid Health Plans

Medi-Cal, Payment & Financing

This report from the Center for Health Care Strategies highlights examples from around the country and in California of promising payment models that provide greater flexibility, tie payment more closely to quality, and give Federally Qualified Health Centers the ability to reap financial rewards from improving quality and reducing utilization costs across the larger health care system.

External Resource

Webinar — Accelerating Value-Based Payment in Federally Qualified Health Centers: Options for Medicaid Health Plans

Medi-Cal, Payment & Financing

This webinar from the Center for Health Care Strategies highlights examples of promising payment approaches for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in California and Colorado.