altamed_org News RSS Feed

Medicina hace la diferencia en portadores VIH

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:17:00 GMT

Local Events Promote World AIDS Day

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:13:00 GMT

Lack of Record Access Drives Up Costs at LA Hospitals for Poor

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:09:00 GMT

Adult Day Health Care End Postponed

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:32:00 GMT

Deal In Adult Day Health Care Lawsuit Could Be Announced Thursday

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:51:00 GMT

Steve Lopez Kicking the Elderly When Theyre Down

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:51:00 GMT

CA Budget Cuts Make Latino Elders on Struggle for Care Alternatives

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:29:00 GMT

SPECIAL REPORT Adult Health Center Cuts Devastate Elderly Disabled

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:08:00 GMT

Blue Shield of California to Grant 20M to Help Golden State Health Care Organizations Form ACOs

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:44:00 GMT

New Care Designation Focuses on Patients

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:20:00 GMT

AltaMed helps Mountain View School District reach 100 Compliance with New Whooping Cough Vaccine Law

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:52:00 GMT

LA County Expands NoCost Healthcare

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:10:00 GMT

NCLRs Escalera Program Helps Students Climb to the Top

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:31:00 GMT

AltaMed Health Center Earn Gold Seal

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:51:00 GMT

Stressed and strapped Caregivers for friends relatives suffer emotional and financial strain

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:36:00 GMT

AltaMed Receives an Alma Award

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:09:00 GMT

AltaMed President & CEO, Castulo de la Rocha, and the AltaMed Escalera Staff and Students at the 2011 Alma Awards

Each year the Alma Awards honor Latinos who are pioneers in the television, film and music industries. This year, in addition to honoring many talented individuals, they presented AltaMed's Escalera program with The 2011 PepsiCo Alma Adelante Award.

Cástulo de la Rocha, Escalera staff and students were on hand to accept the award. "At AltaMed we believe that our students will lead us into the future. So it is our job to prepare them as best we can," Cástulo says. "The support we've received from NCLR has gone a long way in to helping us achieve that mission. The work we do in our teen programs is imperative to our future."

The ALMA Awards will air on Friday, September 16 at 8:00 p.m. on NBC. The Alma Awards are given to Latino entertainers by the NCLR or National Council of La Raza who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry.

Make sure to tune in!

AltaMed Offers Free Whooping Cough Vaccinations to Roosevelt High School Students

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:30:00 GMT

Los Angeles, CA — Students at Roosevelt High School’s Medical and Health Sciences Academy, along with community members from Resurrection Church and neighboring areas, received free Whooping Cough vaccinations today as part of a community service program offered by AltaMed Health Services. The state requires students in grades 7 through 12 to receive the Whooping Cough vaccine, known as the Tdap booster, within 30 days of returning to school this year.

“We’re pleased to extend our services into the community with outreach events like this one,” says Cástulo de la Rocha, AltaMed’s President and CEO. “Working to promote strong and health communities is a core objective for AltaMed and this is just one of the many ways we intend to work with teens in our community to create a successful future.”

Along with the vaccination, which is intended to protect students from increasing rates of whooping cough, parents and teens learned valuable health tips and information about local health resources. They also received health insurance enrollment assistance if interested in applying for Healthy Families and Medi-Cal.

Today’s event builds on the multiyear partnership begun earlier this year between AltaMed and Roosevelt High School’s Medical and Health Sciences Academy. The partnership is aimed at encouraging minority students to pursue careers in the field of medicine and highlight the importance of healthy lifestyle choices. Programs to be implemented include medical related field trips, a backpack donation program, guest speakers, job shadowing, internships, health education, and obesity programs.

The alliance with AltaMed is part of the Partnership for LA School’s ongoing “Adopt-A-School” program, which provides its schools and businesses the opportunity to build long-lasting relationships that serve and support students.

About AltaMed Health Services:

AltaMed is Southern California's leading nonprofit health care system delivering integrated primary care services, senior care programs, and health and human services for the entire family. AltaMed's team of multicultural and bilingual physicians and health care professionals deliver superior quality care through an integrated delivery system of 43 sites and an affiliated Independent Practice Association (IPA) of contracted physicians in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

###

Joint Commission Certifies its First Medical Home

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:17:00 GMT

Courtesy of Modern Physician & Andis Roberznieks

AltaMed Health Services, a Los Angeles-based healthcare system with 43 sites, is the first organization to receive the Joint Commission's new Primary Care Medical Home designation, which is an “add-on” to the commission's existing ambulatory care accreditation program, said Michael Kulczycki, the program's executive director.

The PCMH was approved by the Joint Commission board in May and was launched July 1 after an 18-month development and field-testing process. AltaMed facilities had an unannounced inspection by Joint Commission surveyors during the week of July 11.

While there was some initial speculation that the Joint Commission's niche in the medical home field would be with hospital-affiliated ambulatory practices, Kulczycki said that is not how the program is turning out.

According to Kulczycki, about 14 more organizations will be designated as primary-care medical homes by the Joint Commission before the year is out and there are commitments already from about 25 more to go through the process in 2012, but he said the all the initial interest in the program is coming from federally qualified community health centers.

“There is a lot of interest from both hospital-sponsored and free-standing medical practices, but they haven't come forward yet,” Kulczycki said.

To receive the medical home designation, a practice has to meet 123 elements, two-thirds of which are already part of the Joint Commissions ambulatory-care accreditation process, Kulczycki explained, adding that the new medical home elements deal with access to care, care coordination and patient centeredness.

“We're excited about the immediate and prompt participation of our customer base,” Kulczycki said.

But the Joint Commission has a ways to go to catch up with the Patient Centered Medical Home recognition program launched by National Committee for Quality Assurance in December 2008. As of last month, it has recognized 2,494 organizations as medical homes.

Kulczycki said the Joint Commission program differs from the NCQA program because of the onsite visits, while the NCQA conducts “desktop audits. “

Back in March, the NCQA said it does perform a handful of onsite inspections, but noted that it has no plans to expand on that because of the added expense of travel, lodging and car rentals for inspectors.

But Kulczycki said the medical home survey is conducted “with no additional fees on top of the accreditation program.”

Another organization, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, has “certified” 67 practices as medical homes since launching its own program in 2008 which also includes onsite visits.

Joint Commission awards first Primary Care Medical Home option to AltaMed

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:40:00 GMT

Contreras Wins AltaMeds 1st 5K Race at ELAC

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:23:00 GMT