The Health Plan Welcomed CMS Medicare Director Meena Seshamani, MD
LOS ANGELES – Older adults experiencing homelessness are expected to nearly triple by 2030. This projection is based upon analysis of three major U.S. cities – Los Angeles, New York City, and Boston. In California, the state’s Homeless Data Integration System showed that the number of people 55 and older who sought homelessness services between 2017 and 2021 jumped 84%. That’s why L.A. Care Health Plan hosted a roundtable last week on the intersection between health care and homelessness, with a focus on Medicare beneficiaries.
“L.A. Care recognizes that unhoused seniors are especially vulnerable and need extra support,” said John Baackes, L.A. Care CEO. “L.A. Care is committed to delivering high quality health care services to its unhoused members, and the plan is taking a number of innovative steps to improve health outcomes, including working to find permanent housing for these members.”
During the roundtable, the health plan was proud to share its strategies for delivering health care to unhoused members with Meena Seshamani, MD, the Director for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). And she shared steps Medicare is taking to address the issue.
“We need to make sure that we are wrapping our arms around people and caring for all the things that impact their health,” said Seshamani. “In the outpatient setting, we have created new payments for community health integration to address issues like food and housing and transportation that really play a role in people’s health. We’re also paying for screening for health related social needs, including housing insecurity and homelessness.”
The roundtable, which was held on February 21, 2024, brought together a number of advocates for those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County and leaders from several Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the county, which are centers that serve L.A. Care members. These FQHCs have been working alongside other providers county-wide on the development of L.A. Care’s new field medicine program.
Al Ballesteros is the CEO of JWCH Institute, an FQHC that is seeing a growing number of seniors experiencing homelessness.
“Not only are there large numbers of seniors experiencing homelessness, but there’s a whole group of individuals that are about to, unfortunately, become homeless,” said Ballesteros. “I’d like to explore how can we look at pilot programs that are funding housing services now, like CalAIM in California, and make them more long term.”
L.A. Care was proud for the opportunity to facilitate a discussion between key providers serving L.A. County’s unhoused population and leaders at CMS who are committed to developing policy solutions to support their efforts.