PopHealth Podcast Gavin Ward

Colby Takeda, Pear Suite Co-Founder and CEO, shares how his upbringing, including serving in a nursing home as a teenager, was an inspirtation into serving his community and and ultimately becoming a national leader in the community health worker space. Since 2022's approval of the community health worker benefit in California, Colby shares how his tech enabled platform organization, Pear Suite, has helped community based organizations, including a barber shops, become commuinty health worker sites that are able to bill for their important work in the community.

Beginning no later than 2024, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) required all Medi-Cal managed care organizations to have a chief health equity officer (CHEO). Valerie shares how BSC Promise Health Plan gave her the opportunity in 2022 to be its first CHEO and some of the progress she's made in her first 18 months.

The California Medical Association has partnered with Health Tech 4 Medicaid (HT4M) at its upcoming 2nd annual CMA HIT Summit, "Health IT In the Safety Net." HT4M's founder Adimika Arthur, whose career has been instrumental in ensuring access to care, joins the show to share the importance of Health IT on health equity and ensuring a safety net for those that may otherwise struggle to get the care they need.

From the highlights and challenges in 2023 to what to expect in 2024 and beyond, Gavin discusses CalAIM with guests Michel Huizar, Branch Chief, DHCS Managed Care Quality and Monitoring Division, and Dora Barilla, Co-Founder, HC² Strategies.

Michael's history with health plans and advocacy played a key role in his recruitment to lead C4A, an organization established to advocate and collaborate on behalf of California's "Triple As." Michael shares how his organization supports older adults throughout the state and what their focus is in 2024 and ahead.

Under the California Department of Health Care Access and Information, Elizabeth shares how the newly created Officer of Healthcare Affordability is helping the most populous state to manage healthcare costs through growth targets and other efforts for 40M Californians.