LA Care Health Plan Tackles Provider Workforce Shortage

LA Care Health Plan is combatting the provider workforce shortage and improving access to care by issuing provider recruitment grants, the payer announced.

The payer is distributing $1.75 million to the awardees in order to help support new providers.

“Our PRP grants are currently funding 142 physicians working in the L.A. County safety net,” said John Baackes, chief executive officer of LA Care. “These physicians offer health care access to the most vulnerable populations in the county – those on Medi-Cal or the uninsured. They are helping to advance health equity for L.A. Care members and their communities.”

LA Care Health Plan’s grants will go toward a total of over a dozen providers, both clinics and independent practices. These include Eisner Health, MLK Community Health Foundation, Family Care Specialists, and others scattered throughout the region of Los Angeles county.

As many as 14 more providers might start serving in safety-net healthcare as a result of the LA Care Health Plan’s Provider Recruitment Program, which started in 2018. This brings the total amount of funding that LA Care Health Plan has offered through the program to $26.8 million.

Provider organizations can use the funding to cover the cost of up to three providers in a single fiscal year, according to a frequently asked questions sheet that LA Care Health Plan designed. 

Each provider that the program covers can receive up to $125,000 per year. Provider organizations can apply these funds in a number of ways, from covering salary or relocation costs to sign-on bonuses and employee benefits.

The position that the grant funding covers must be a new position, as opposed to the abandoned position of a provider who has left the office. The position must fall under one of the five categories of providers that LA Care Health Plan has prioritized: pediatrics, OB/GYN care, family care, internal medicine services, or psychiatry.

Independent contractors are not eligible for the funding. However, new part-time provider positions are eligible.

The program is part of LA Care Health Plan’s “Elevating the Safety Net” initiative, a separate web page explained. 

The initiative aims to recruit providers specifically for safety net programs in the Los Angeles County area. According to LA Care Health Plan, each recruit could serve as many as 2,000 new patients annually, which would help expand access to care for low-income individuals in the region.

California has been hit hard by the national healthcare workforce shortage. The shortage has been a growing problem but when the healthcare system shifted into high gear to handle the coronavirus pandemic the shortage accelerated and its impact escalated.

According to the Health Resources & Services Administration, the area of Los Angeles alone encompasses 300 areas that are suffering from workforce shortages, the press release noted.

The decline in the healthcare workforce can have a direct impact on members. For example, members have noticed the restrictiveness of payers’ mental healthcare networks, a JAMA Network Open study found. Primary care providers have had to find ways to navigate the lack of mental healthcare specialists available for their patients.

Cigna has also taken steps to address the medical workforce shortage. The payer funds nonprofits that support students in underserved populations. Part of the program specifically funds high school programs that introduce students to potential careers in healthcare. It also seeks to improve adult students’ knowledge about public health and population health management.

These health plans show that payers can play an active role in the face of the nation’s continued clinical workforce shortage.