Community Clinics Can Play Role in Health Care Reform
"Community clinics and health centers are the cornerstones of California's safety-net system and, as such, are uniquely positioned to play an important role in this year's health care reform," Carmela Castellano-Garcia, CEO and president of the California Primary Care Association, writes in a Santa Cruz Sentinel opinion piece.
"In a year in which our political leaders are looking to reform the state's malfunctioning system of health care, California should find a way to invest in its community clinics," she writes.
"Community clinics can do more if given the proper tools and resources," according to Castellano-Garcia. "In fact, community clinics are in a prime position to be the medical home for newly insured populations resulting from health care reform," she writes.
"Research consistently shows that community clinics provide comprehensive services to the highest-risk populations for the least amount of cost," according to Castellano-Garcia.
"[A]ny health care reform proposal that goes to the governor's desk should find a way to take advantage of and maximize the potential of community clinics' system of providing cost-effective and high-quality health care," she concludes (Castellano-Garcia, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 7/29).