Los Angeles: vast and varied health care market inches toward consolidation
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- California health care almanac (California HealthCare Foundation)
- Author(s):
- Yegian, Jill, author Connolly, Katrina, author
- Contributor(s):
- California HealthCare Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Oakland, CA] : California Health Care Foundation, January 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Community Health Services Health Care Sector California Los Angeles United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The Los Angeles health care market--as varied as it is Vast--juggles the needs of more than 10 million people across a geographically diverse landscape. More than 80 general acute care hospitals are scattered throughout Los Angeles County, an area twice the size of Delaware with 10 times the population. The county includes 88 cities, and the historically fragmented health care sector tends to serve distinct geographic areas where residents live and work. Only two health systems operate on a countywide scale: Kaiser Permanente, an integrated delivery system with a health plan, owned hospitals, and tightly aligned employed physicians serving primarily commercial and Medicare patients across the market; and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LACDHS), which operates the countywide safety-net system. Over the past several years, the Los Angeles market has inched toward greater consolidation as two major health systems--Cedars-Sinai and Providence--have expanded: Cedars by affiliating with community hospitals both north and south of its flagship medical center, and Providence through merger with St. Joseph Health to strengthen regional presence. (1) Medi-Cal coverage expansion continues to fuel growth of L.A. Care Health Plan, the local public plan. (2) Enrollment in Medicare managed care continues to grow, while commercial health maintenance organization (HMO) enrollment stagnates. (3) The Los Angeles hospital market has consolidated slightly in recent years--primarily through closures and new affiliations and partnerships. (4) Los Angeles continues as a stronghold for large capitated, delegated physician organizations. (5) Los Angeles County government, which plays a critical safety-net role and divides responsibility for physical and behavioral health services across three departments, faces challenges in coordinating services. (6) The 131-bed Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH), which opened in 2015, provides much needed services to one of the county's most disadvantaged areas. (7) Collectively caring for about 1.7 million patients, 163 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) continue to play an essential and growing safety-net role for Medi-Cal enrollees and uninsured people in the county. (8) The COVID-19 pandemic hit Los Angeles hard in 2020.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (23 pages, 1 unnumbered page))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101775806 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101775806