Two L.A. Care leaders have the honor of speaking at high profile conferences this week about how the health plan is addressing social factors that impact member health. Marina Acosta, MPH, L.A. Care’s Director of Health Equity, is giving a presentation at the Health Care Advisory Board National Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, September 17. Matt Pirritano, PhD, MPH, L.A. Care’s Director of Population Health Informatics, is speaking at the Health Innovation Health IT Summit in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 19.
Research has shown that medical care accounts for only 10-20 percent of health outcomes. Social factors like income, housing, food and transportation, along with health behaviors, account for the rest. With numbers like that, L.A. Care has chosen to make addressing social determinants of health a part of the enterprise-wide strategic vision.
Acosta will detail how a steering committee determined the five social factors that L.A. Care will focus on as part of that strategic vision – housing, food security, income security, transportation and early childhood education and development. She will also explain some of the hallmark projects that L.A. Care is involved with to address those factors, including our commitment to the L.A. County Housing for Health program, our participation in the Food is Medicine pilot, community outreach through the Family Resource Centers and more.
At the Healthcare Innovation summit, Pirritano will be part of a panel title Caring for the Health of Communities Across the Continuum of Care. The panelists will be discussing how population health management encompasses broad approaches when it comes the health of entire communities, and social factors are part of the mix. Pirritano will also be detailing the various projects where L.A. Care is addressing social factors that impact member health.