L.A. Care Health Plan is the largest public health plan in the nation with over 600,000 Medicaid members and over 3,000 Healthy Families members (Children's Health Insurance Program in California). L.A. Care established Regional Community Advisory Committees (RCACs) representing 11 distinct areas of Los Angeles County to receive regional advisory input regarding access to services, cultural and linguistic issues, member satisfaction and community health issues. Furthermore, the RCACs serve as a means for collaborative planning of community activities and generation of issues for policy development. Community stakeholders participating in these committees include L.A. Care members, parents or guardians of L.A. Care members, advocates and providers in L.A. Care's network. The members who serve on the RCACs elect the member and member advocate representatives to the Board of Governors. The chairperson of each RCAC serves on the Executive Community Advisory Committee, which has the ability to place, motions for consideration before the Board of Governors. Currently, there are a total of 167 members of the RCACs, 81 (48%) of which are L.A. Care members or their parents. Local projects completed to date include local health fairs and educational forums, support for school-based head lice eradication campaigns, and the creation of a teen resource card for referrals to local health and social service providers. This presentation will review: the process of creating the advisory committees; lessons learned about community planning, recruitment and retention; and challenges of the advisory capacity and successes related to this model of member and community participation.
Learning Objectives: During this session, participants will be able to: 1. describe the structure of the Regional Community Advisory Committees 2. identify tools for committee recruitment, retention and project planning 3. discuss challenges and successes related to this model
Keywords: Community Involvement, Managed Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: L.A. Care Health Plan (the Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County)
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment