LOS ANGELES — L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly-operated health plan in the county, is proud to announce that CEO John Baackes will be honored tonight at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Leaders of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow Awards Dinner. The annual event honors alumni and friends of the Fielding School for outstanding leadership and service in health care.
Under Baackes' leadership, L.A. Care has launched a number of programs and initiatives that enhance the health and wellness of all Angelenos, not just L.A. Care members. Among those programs and initiatives are two collaborations with UCLA.
One is Elevating the Safety Net, a $31 million initiative that provides funding to recruit new primary care physicians into safety net clinics and practices and to pay off medical school loan debt for those new recruits. The initiative also provided four full medical school scholarships to students at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine last year, and four more scholarship awardees will be named this year.
L.A. Care also signed a three-year contract with UCLA Health that allows nearly 2.2 million members to received advanced and highly specialized cases at two UCLA hospitals. UCLA is always ranked among the top hospital systems, and now L.A. Care members benefit from that expertise.
The Fielding School is handing out two other awards tonight. Caitlin Beck Stella, MPH, the CEO of the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, is being given the Ira Alpert Service Award. Thomas D. Gordon, the Chairman of DSL Construction, a former CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Network, is the Lifetime Achievement Awardee.