County leaders from large urban areas across the country gathered in Marina Del Rey Thursday to share how they plan to implement the massive changes coming over the next four years in health care.
The 2010 Large Urban County Caucus, hosted by Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, included county officials including health services director John Schunhoff and public health director, Dr. Jonathan Fielding.
Most agree that the biggest challenage will be a massive expansion of Medicaid, or Medi-Cal in California. Schunhoff provided hard numbers on just how significant the changes will be in the local region.
The county system, which includes County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance, saw 731,000 patients in 2009, nearly all of them uninsured. When health reform is fully implemented in 2014, roughly 350,000 of these patients will qualify for Medi-Cal.
The challenge for counties, officials said, will be reorganizing the system to keep these patients, who will now be paying customers. Big changes are likely in store.
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