First Population Health Management Initiative Statewide Learning Session is a Success!  

The Population Health Management Initiative (PHMI) – a California partnership between the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), Kaiser Permanente, and community health centers (CHCs)  – has entered a new implementation phase this year. 

Since 2021, 32 CHCs in PHMI’s cohort from across the state have been partnering with the Regional Associations of California,CPCA, DHCS, and Kaiser Permanente to co-design a change package that would move CHCs closer to a foundational level of population health management capabilities for specific populations of focus. In 2024, PHMI’s cohort of CHCs will operationalize clinical guidelines, maximize technology solutions, and effectuate care team workflows that reduce care gaps and ensure care coordination to treat the whole person.  

This next phase kicked off with a two-day, in-person learning session with all 32 CHCs in the PHMI cohort in Long Beach, California. Attendees participated in breakout sessions designed to get them thinking and interacting to identify CHC practice-level opportunities and interventions to address unique barriers in their practice. Leaders and frontline staff from each CHC also participated in breakouts to discuss the intersection of advocacy and PHMI around data and technology. Attendees walked away with an action plan and valuable networking time.  

To top it all off, Meena Mital, MD, Sr. Director of Clinical Consulting at Kaiser Permanente, and Jodi Pekkala and Greg Vachon, MD, PHMI subject matter experts from Health Management Associates, presented to an audience of CPCA members at the Quality + Technology Conference the following day. They shared strategies for improved empanelment and continuity as well as data quality and reporting. It was a packed house and the audience gleaned concrete strategies to balance their panels and improve data integrity.

PHMI will be releasing a new set of implementation guides focused on population health management for key populations of focus. These guides will be free and available to all CHCs across the state. Please visit www.phminitiative.com and subscribe to PHMI’s newsletter to stay tuned for this new and valuable resource.