What good is health coverage if you can’t see your doctor? L.A. Care launched the Robert E. Tranquada, M.D., Health Care Safety Net Awards in 2005 to help safety net clinics, those who provide care regardless of an individual’s ability to pay, improve their core infrastructure capabilities and to support projects that have a long-term and systemic impact. This, in turn, ensures safety net patients always have access to high quality health care, both now and for years to come.
Through this initiative, L.A. Care has awarded more than $24 million to 189 grantees to help safety net clinics strengthen their infrastructure by:
- Upgrading or acquiring information technology
- Purchasing medical equipment
- Remodeling space or workflows to accommodate new capacity
- Hiring staff to meet diverse patient needs
- Designing culturally and linguistically congruent health programs
This type of infrastructure support is unique compared to other funders, which often fund only programmatic work.
During the most recent Tranquada XIV initiative, L.A. Care awarded $2.7 million to 18 clinics looking to hire and retain diverse employees to ensure quality health care for their patients, many of whom are L.A. Care members. These grantees were able to serve an estimated 200,000 patients and help retain more than 450 frontline medical workers in the L.A. County area.
“The lack of diversity among health care staff hinders efforts toward health equity. L.A. Care is working to close the gap on health disparities that have existed for far too long.”
— JOHN BAACKES, L.A. CARE CEO
In addition to the Tranquada Initiative, L.A. Care has awarded several other ad hoc grants for safety net infrastructure support. In total, L.A. Care has awarded nearly $39 million to help improve the infrastructure of safety net organizations. Through L.A. Care’s funding, these clinics help improve the quality of health care for L.A. Care members and other community members they serve.
Tranquada Initiative
This initiative was named after Dr. Robert E. Tranquada, founding board member of L.A. Care. Dr. Tranquada dedicated his life to public health. He served as the medical director of L.A. County + USC Medical Center and was later the dean of medicine at USC.
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