GCHP invests $75M into Ventura County’s healthcare provider network
By Atmika Iyer
Special to the Business Times
Gold Coast Health Plan — a health insurance agency based in the city of Camarillo — announced a $75 million investment on March 6 into its provider network to recruit more providers and expand access to quality healthcare in Ventura County.
Of the total investment, $50 million will be used as provider incentives in order to increase the number of annual screenings and condition-specific tests. The remaining $25 million will be used for grants to acquire medical equipment and strengthen healthcare networks within the County.
“Each incentive that is earned and grant that is awarded helps bridge the gaps in health care equity and access, and ultimately drives improvements in health care for our community,” Dee Pupa, chair of the Ventura County Medi-Cal Managed Care Commission, said in the press release. “The GCHP leadership team has our full support as they embark on the largest community investment in the health plan’s 12-year history.”
Via the incentive program, 90% of providers under GCHP can obtain up to $10 million in their efforts to improve healthcare quality and local health-related quality of living by creating programs and processes that allow each provider to improve Child and Adolescent Well-Care Visits, Well-Child Visits in the First 30 Months of Life, Chlamydia Screenings in Women and Cervical Cancer Screenings.
“Gold Coast Health Plan and its providers must work together to get members into care,” said Erik Cho, GCHP’s chief policy and program officer. “In doing so, we will move the needle on these measures, which translates into a healthier population.
GCHP’s providers can now take advantage of the organization’s two grant programs: the equipment grant program and the recruitment grant program. The equipment grant program aims to improve the capacities of Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics that work with rural and medically underserved populations. Eligible equipment for providers to request include lifts, platform scales, hi-low exam tables, vaccine refrigerators and exam room equipment for clinic expansions.
The recruitment grant program aims to help providers attract specialists, primary care physicians and advanced practice providers to better encapsulate and address the medical needs of the people they serve.
According to the press release, this investment looks to meet the quality vision of healthcare as put forward by California’s Department of Health Care Services.
“These programs reinforce GCHP’s ongoing commitment to driving meaningful quality improvements in Ventura County’s health care system and providing the necessary financial support for a much-needed infusion of equipment and technology that will provide needed care, along with additional providers to support our community,” Nick Liguori, Gold Coast Health Plan’s (GCHP) CEO, said in a press release.
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