Los Angeles– L.A. Care Health Plan’s Board of Governors has awarded $345,394 to seven community clinics as part of L.A. Care’s Robert E. Tranquada, M.D., Health Care Safety Net Awards. These awards are intended to help small community clinics in Los Angeles County to assess and plan projects that strengthen their long-term infrastructure.
The awards are named after Dr. Robert E. Tranquada, a founding board member of L.A. Care Health Plan. Dr. Tranquada has dedicated his life to public health. He helped establish and direct the Watts Health Center, which is now known as the Watts Health Foundation, and has served as the Medical Director of L.A. County + USC Medical Center. He was a member of the Christopher Commission and he chaired the Los Angeles County Task Force on Health Care Access. He also served as Dean of Medicine at USC and Director of the Health Administration Program at the School of Public Administration. Dr. Tranquada served on L.A. Care’s Board of Governors for over 10 years and as board chair for four years and finally retired in 1997.
“Dr. Tranquada has strongly supported the safety net that serves the most vulnerable populations in Los Angeles County for many years,” said Dr. Elaine Batchlor, Chief Medical Officer of L.A. Care Health Plan. “The L.A. Care’s Robert E. Tranquada Awards honor his activism and leadership by providing funding to clinics to strengthen their infrastructure to facilitate higher quality health care services to their patients.”
Winners of the L.A. Care’s Robert E. Tranquada, M.D. Health Care Safety Net Awards were selected through a competitive process. These grantees are:
1. The American Indian Healing Center (Whittier)
2. Cleaver Family Wellness Clinic/Our Saviour Center (El Monte)
3. URDC Bill Moore Community Health Clinic (Pasadena)
4. Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles (Bell Gardens)
5. Pomona Community Health Center (Pomona)
6. UMMA Clinic (Los Angeles)
7. Garfield Health Center (Monterey Park)
Funding will help clinics with projects such as improving information systems, increasing capacity for primary care services, and seeking qualification as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).
To date, the Dr. Tranquada Awards have granted almost $4.5 million to safety net clinics.
The Robert E. Tranquada, M.D. Safety Net Awards are funded through L.A. Care’s Community Health Investment Fund (CHIF), which has provided nearly $80 million in grants to strengthen the safety net, improve community and public health and expand health insurance coverage. For more information about L.A. Care’s CHIF program, please visit
www.lacare.org.
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About L.A. Care Health Plan
L.A. Care Health Plan (Local Initiative Health Authority of Los Angeles County) is a public entity and community-accountable health plan serving residents of Los Angeles County through a variety of programs including L.A. Care Covered™, Medi-Cal, L.A. Care’s Healthy Kids, L.A. Care Health Plan Medicare Advantage HMO SNP, and PASC-SEIU Homecare Workers Health Care Plan. L.A. Care is a leader in developing new programs through innovative partnerships designed to provide health coverage to vulnerable populations and to support the safety net. With more than one million members, L.A. Care is the nation’s largest publicly operated health plan.