e.Letter to SSV Medicine Re: Sacramento County’s Fraying Medical Safety Net
Dr. [Celeste] Reinking describes the precarious state of the local FQHCs [Federally Qualified Health Centers], but the situation is no better in the traditional Medi-Cal provider network. This loose collection of PCPs, known to the state as “high-tech providers” because they self-attested for meaningful use funds, provides Medi-Cal services to more than twice the number in Sacramento who are cared for by FQHCs. Most Medi-Cal providers in the private sector are hold-overs from the early days when most enrollees were healthy children and their mothers. In the days of the old Medi-Cal, our most vulnerable and fragile, the sickest of the sick, received their care at UCD’s specialty clinics, the emotionally ill at the County Mental Health Clinic, and the uninsured at the county clinics or local emergency room of their choice. All that has changed, and these
patient groups make up the new Medi-Cal. What has been the response to this influx of sicker, older and more Medi-Cal enrollees? Young doctors are heading for the large health systems that don’t partake in Medi-Cal, and young NPs and PAs are no match for the complexity of the new Medi-Cal enrollee or the ever-increasing expectations of the health plans. With the ACA, Medicare parity funding ended, and without the subsidies afforded the FQHCs, this component of Sacramento’s safety net will soon be gone. Dr. Reinking correctly described the dire shortcomings within the FQHC sector, but missed the fact that things are much worse outside that sector. Isn’t it time that we all recognized that the emperor has no robes? −Gilbert Simon, MD, Medical Director, Sacramento Family Medical Clinics
Requirements:
Want to lead a Walk with a Doc event? We are planning for one Walk with a Doc event per quarter in 2015. Saturday, March 14, 2015
LOCATION: Howe Park, 2201 Cottage Way, Sacramento
Saturday, June 6, 2015
LOCATION: Morse Park, 5540 Bellaterra Drive, Elk Grove
Saturday, August 15, 2015
An interest in talking to a group of walkers about health and wellness for 10 minutes before the walk. Ability to walk for 30 minutes and chat with walkers.
To volunteer, or for more info., contact Kris Wallach at 916 453-0254 or kwallach@ssvms.org
Sponsored by:
LOCATION: Valley Hi Community Park, 8185 Center Parkway, Sacramento
Saturday, October 10, 2015 LOCATION: Sheldon Park, 600 Orange Ave, Sacramento
Supported by:
—William Nakashima, MD
March/April 2015
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