SAN FRANCISCO – Members of the UC Board of Regents Health Services Committee discussed the state of the UC Health system and its impact on the California community during its November meeting.

The UC Board of Regents is holding its bimonthly meeting Tuesday to Thursday at UC San Francisco. On Tuesday afternoon, the Health Services Committee presented an update on UC Health, including sharing a community benefit report and updates on the UCLA Health Medicare Advantage Plan.

Executive Vice President of UC Health Dr. David Rubin began the meeting by providing an update on the state of the system. Finances across UC Health have remained stable despite the effects of inflation, he said.

“Amidst this change in facing headwinds such as inflation reimbursement challenges, rising cost of labor, supplies, pharmaceuticals and capital equipment, the overall financial performance of our medical centers has remained stable,” he said.

At the meeting, Rubin recognized the 20th anniversary of the UC Irvine Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community, which seeks to train physicians committed to serving under-resourced Latino communities throughout the state. This program has inspired several similar initiatives across the country, he said.

Rubin also provided a year-end review of performance across UC medical centers. Each UC medical center is self-sustaining and provides comprehensive care, he said, but certain themes have emerged across all locations.

One of these themes is the UC’s commitment to California’s social safety net, he said. Over two-thirds of funds raised through hospital bond programs are used for enrollees in government-funded health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medi-Cal, he added.

Rubin said many patients have had difficulty accessing care across the UC Health centers because of limited capacity, with visits to outpatient facilities having grown 41%, and annual discharges having increased by 13% across the system. He added that UC Health must continue its commitment to earning patient trust throughout these shortcomings.

“As I tour UC facilities that are stretched to capacity, there is an important conclusion to draw across every one of them,” he said. “We seek to earn the trust of our patients and our communities. Every day, Californians are showing us that they value our quality and commitment to our mission and would like to see more of what we offer.”

At the meeting, UC leaders also detailed the 2022-2023 report on community benefits and the UC Health Anchor Institution Mission.

Although UC Health does not have a legal obligation to report its own community benefits like nonprofit hospitals, it chooses to do so anyway as a matter of mission, he said.

UCLA Health’s revenue is over $20 billion a year, Rubin said, adding that 10% of that revenue comes directly from net community benefits, including subsidized health services and community health improvement services. Additionally, UC Health reported $2.4 billion in uncompensated hospital Medicare patient care in 2022-2023, he added.

“The investments we’re making are not simply an accounting of the uncompensated care we provide in Medi-Cal, but they’re actually direct examples of us building clinics … and making substantial investments in clinical care,” Rubin said.

Dr. Hendry Ton, the associate vice chancellor for health equity, diversity and inclusion at UC Davis Health, said addressing poverty is a key part of UC Health’s Anchor Institution Mission, a program instituted in 2019 to “improve the long-term health and social welfare of their communities,” according to the UCSF website.

The meeting then pivoted to reviewing the systemwide Community Health Needs Assessment, which UC hospitals conduct every three years.

The assessment found that the UC Health system has not been responsive enough to its local communities, said Wylie Liu, the assistant vice chancellor for the Center for Community Engagement at the UCSF Anchor Institution Mission. UC medical centers should focus on developing local workforces by hiring from local communities and collaborating more with nonprofits, she added.

Liu also said UC Health should invest in under-resourced communities by increasing the amount of lendable capital in its budget. These investments will contribute to the overall health and wealth of these communities, she added.

“In the long run, our aspiration is to achieve health equity in our under-resourced communities,” Liu said.

Joselen Contreras, a student observer of the committee meeting, said during the meeting that she has concerns about UC Health’s anchor plan.

Contreras said the system should focus on retention and preventing burnout for health care workers rather than on recruitment. She added that UC Health must consider the entire experience of under-resourced workers when reaching out to these communities, including by ensuring public transportation options for UC Health staff.

“UC Health has made significant strides in health care excellence, and I urge us to deepen our commitment by supporting the workforce, under-resourced employees and the role of health centers within our networks,” said Contreras, a second-year public health student at UC Berkeley.

Finally, the committee discussed the UCLA Health Medicare Advantage Plan. UCLA Health will launch an expanded offering of Medicare, which supports patients over 65 and people with certain disabilities, on Jan. 1, 2025.

Medicare Parts A and B – which UCLA Health currently offers – cover inpatient hospital stays, doctor visits, lab tests and imaging, preventative exams and outpatient visits, said Jonathon Arrington, chief financial officer of the Faculty Practice Group at UCLA Health. Patients must sign up for Part D, which includes prescription drug services, he added.

However, Part C – Medicare Advantage – includes all of these services, including dental, fitness, hearing and vision coverage and will be offered next year.

The program aims to support minority communities and those with limited financial means, Arrington said. Medicare Advantage is growing quickly, he added, and is projected to account for over 60% of total Medicare enrollment by 2032.

Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health, said planning began in September 2022, and the program has received an endorsement from the UC Regents Health Services Committee and is licensed by the California Department of Managed Health Care. Arrington said the system has already begun enrolling members in the plan.

“This does resonate with the constituency out there,” he said. “We … feel that this is a great opportunity to serve our community.”