LOS ANGELES — At the request of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the nation, will participate in a webinar this week hosted by Resources for Integrated Care. The webinar is highlighting how some health plans are helping high risk individuals — specifically those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare — gain access to COVID-19 vaccines.
These individuals are three times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than Medicare-only beneficiaries. Alex Li, L.A. Care’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and Misty de Lamare, L.A. Care’s Director of Communications, will share how L.A. Care has responded to the critical need to provide equitable vaccine access to this group.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) heard about L.A. Care’s efforts to get vulnerable members vaccinated during a February Cal MediConnect Contract Management Team meeting and was quite impressed. The Resources for Integrated Care webinar, supported by the CMS Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office, is titled Strategies for Health Plans to Support Access to COVID-19 Vaccines for Vulnerable Populations. Panelists will share strategies for how health plans can leverage benefits, care coordination resources, and community-based partnerships to support members’ access to vaccinations. Panelists will also discuss targeted outreach efforts and the use of culturally competent communication to make sure outreach is effective.
Li and de Lamare will offer details on calls to high-risk members to educate them about the vaccine and help them get registered for a vaccine. They will discuss collaborations with both the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and other health systems to get more than 20,000 high-risk residents in the county vaccinated. They will also discuss what they learned from a recent member survey about members’ biggest vaccine concerns and strategies they will implement based upon this new data.
In addition to Li and de Lamare, the panelists include:
- Marvin Figueroa, Director, Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Shelly Winston, Division of Part D Policy, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Beejadi Mukunda, MD, Medical Director, MyCare Ohio, CareSource
- Jennifer Anadiotis, Director, Integrated Care Post-Acute Strategy, CareSource
CMS and the Resources for Integrated Care are hoping that, after attending the webinar, participants will be able to identify strategies to promote equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, use data for targeted outreach, and identify effective communication and outreach strategies to increase vaccine confidence.
The Webinar is being held Thursday, April 1, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time).
You can register here.