LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Health Net, Inc. (“Health Net”), one of California’s largest health plans, is awarding a combined $4.2 million to 22 healthcare organizations across the state to help increase health workforce development and improve the accuracy of encounter data collection. The grants will expand access to health care and enhance health outcomes in medically underserved communities.

These grants are supported by Health Net’s Community and Infrastructure Investment Program, created as a result of the Undertakings agreed to by Health Net and the California Department of Managed Health Care as a condition of the department’s approval in 2016 of the merger between Centene Corporation and Health Net, Inc.

“There is a shortage of primary care physicians and supporting care teams statewide,” said Steve Sell, president of Health Net, Inc. “By investing in healthcare workforce development, we can assist underserved communities in receiving appropriate care and achieve our goals of helping Californians be well and stay well.”

The healthcare organizations receiving the Health Workforce Development grants demonstrate the importance of a multifaceted approach in recruiting, training and retaining healthcare professionals. Investments in these organizations, through Health Net’s Community & Infrastructure Investment Program, are intended to improve access to, and quality of, healthcare statewide.

The healthcare providers receiving the Encounter Data Improvement grants will be able to improve the completeness and accuracy of data collection and reporting for managed-care patients.

“Improved encounter data collection will lead to better analyses and identification of trends in patient care,” said Carol Kim, vice president of Community Investments & Public Affairs for Health Net. “Accuracy in encounter data is key to measuring illness prevalence rates, assessing quality of care, and identifying needed improvements within healthcare systems.”

Health Workforce Development Grant Recipients

Northern California

• Peach Tree Health: $150,000 to support new hires through a redesigned staff onboarding and evaluation program and establish training for incumbent staff.
• Sacramento Native American Health Center: $145,000 to train management staff, fund next level of education or training and develop a strategic human resources plan.
• WellSpace Health: $150,000 to develop a training curriculum for medical assistants to become health educators or coaches on chronic disease management.

Central Valley

• Camarena Health: $150,000 to train medical assistants to provide health coaching and enable providers to track the effectiveness and quality outcomes of health coaching.
• Family Healthcare Network: $100,000 to train providers to increase competency in core areas of care, and train nurse navigators on chronic care management, home-care planning and care-management services.
• Golden Valley Health Centers: $150,000 to recruit additional primary care physicians and train post-graduate nurse practitioners and physician assistants
• Valley Health Team: $150,000 to hire additional primary care physicians and train more than 30 medical assistants as health coaches.

Southern California

• Comprehensive Community Health Centers: $122,000 to train several hundred staff members to leverage management tools, train medical assistants to be medical interpreters and provide cultural competency training to staff.
• Family Care Specialists Medical Corporation: $150,000 to train physicians as transformation coaches in addition to training entry-level health workers to become advanced medical assistants.
• The Children’s Clinic: $150,000 to develop a recruitment and retention plan, a career ladder to increase retention rates and assist medical assistants in using their full licensure training.
• Community Health Association Inland Southern Region: $133,000 to establish a medical assistant training program, provide preceptor training at six clinics and recruit and train new medical assistants.

Encounter Data Improvement Grant Recipients

Statewide

• Integrated Healthcare Association: $136,000 to conduct an encounter data market research study of frontline provider groups, individual practices, and managed services organizations to identify opportunities for data collection and submission improvements in the industry.

Central Valley

• Adventist Health Plan: $250,000 to develop and formalize an electronic medical-record training curriculum to improve encounter volume.
• Independence Medical Group: $250,000 to improve encounter data submission timeliness to health plans by developing efficient processes and training, and increase provider capacity for electronic data submission.

Southern California

• Allied Pacific of California: $250,000 to improve encounter data capture between urgent care and primary care providers by using an enhanced web portal to coordinate data collection.
• Angeles IPA: $250,000 to increase current encounter data volume and improve encounter data accuracy and timeliness of encounter submissions.
• Community Family Care: $250,000 to improve overall encounter data processes by transitioning providers from paper-based to electronic encounter data submissions, streamlining billing practices and investing in hardware, technical assistance and staff training.
• Exceptional Care Medical Group: $250,000 to improve overall encounter data processes by transitioning providers from paper-based to electronic encounter data submissions, streamlining billing practices and investing in hardware, technical assistance and staff training.
• MSO, Inc. of Southern California: $250,000 to acquire and implement electronic health-record equipment and provide electronic medical-record training to improve data encounter volume for two of its affiliated provider groups, Karing Physicians Medical Group and San Judas Medical Group.
• Omnicare Medical Group: $250,000 to improve overall encounter data processes by transitioning providers from paper-based to electronic encounter data submissions and investing in hardware, technical assistance and staff training.
• Rady Children’s Health Network: $250,000 to improve overall encounter data processes by transitioning providers from paper-based to electronic encounter data submissions, improving error rate and investing in hardware, technical assistance and staff training.
• Vantage: $250,000 to conduct system review, provide technical assistance, training, tools and technology to improve encounter data submission rates.

About Health Net

Health Net, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), provides and administers health benefits through group, individual, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly referred to as “Part D”), Medicaid and dual eligible programs. Health Net also offers access to behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs, and managed health care products related to prescription drugs. For more information on Health Net, please visit the company’s website at www.healthnet.com.

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