Over the last two years, I had the honor of moderating the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare Delivery System for Stephen Shortell, dean of the School of Public Health at Berkeley, who chaired the forum. Steve brought together a fantastic group of health care CEOs and public sector leaders to develop a vision for California, given the state’s special circumstances. You should read the full report here.
The Berkeley forum documented what makes us different in California: demographics (more diverse than most); unique delivery system structures such as Kaiser and the capitated-delegated model; the scale of our uninsured (nearly 7 million); and the Medicaid coverage challenge (we call it MediCal), where we reimburse providers at a very low level compared with most states.