Californians See Increase in Access to Care from Health Net’s Mobile and Virtual Initiatives

by Health Net

Health Net has been serving Californians for more than 40 years. Over that time, we’ve adopted and refined a whole-person model of care. Beyond physical and mental health issues, this model looks at social drivers of health. These drivers include safe housing, transportation, food insecurity and other issues that can negatively impact one’s health. When we address these issues with our local partners, we help close equity gaps in California’s most vulnerable communities. Health equity means that everyone has a fair and equal opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This is important because some groups of people have more barriers to good health than others.

Another key part of the whole-person model is wellness care beyond the four walls of a doctor’s office. That’s where Health Net’s mobile and virtual services can help Californians where they live and work. These include health services provided through electronic devices, like cell phones, and delivering wellness screenings and vaccinations to people via mobile vehicles. With these approaches, we can reach more Californians to deliver the quality care they need and deserve.

Health Net addresses the impact of these services in our latest issue brief, Expanding Access to Care: Mobile & Virtual Health. Working with local partners, we’ve invested in new mobile and virtual solutions to ensure their members can get care when, how and where they need it. Examples include:

• Awarded $13.4 million to 138 Medi-Cal providers across California: This partnership with the California Department of Managed Health Care helped providers set up or expand their digital health practice so they could bring telehealth to underserved patients.
• Provided a $3 million grant to the national leader in school-based telehealth: This grant helped Hazel Health expand to support California children at K-12 schools. It closed equity gaps and advanced education through increased access to medical care and behavioral support.
• Invested more than $2.5 million in grants and programs to help the unsheltered: They funded the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH) Street Medicine program — a partnership between MLKCH and the USC Keck School of Medicine. The Street Medicine program delivers care directly to homeless people in South Los Angeles through specialized care teams.
• Worked with trusted community partners to bring vaccines to members and non-members: Their RVax180 initiative held more than 210 vaccine clinics in 70 cities and 15 counties. In total, the Health Net team provided more than 22,000 vaccines and traveled more than 40,000 miles.

These are just a few of the many ways in which Health Net has been working to increase health equity and improve the lives of Californians. To learn more, read our latest issue brief or check out our Bridging The Divide Resource Library, which contains many industry reports, issue briefs and fact sheets about healthcare in California.