title: Ready for ACA? how community health centers are preparing for health care reform.
abstract: Community health centers (CHCs) are a cornerstone of the health care safety net. They are the primary source of care for many low-income populations, including both those newly insured under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and those who were left out and will remain uninsured. The ACA provides challenges and opportunities for CHCs, which will require significant changes in infrastructure and care delivery approaches to meet those challenges. This policy brief assesses the progress made by CHCs in Los Angeles County in meeting a number of key indicators of ACA readiness in early 2014. The authors find that 39 percent of CHCs are well prepared, 23 percent have made some progress, and the rest are at the initial phases of preparation and/or lack adequate resources to meet the requirements. The latter group of CHCs require help to embark on strategic improvements in infrastructure and care delivery.
authors: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, USA.
authors: Nadereh
authors: N
authors: Pourat
authors: Max W
authors: MW
authors: Hadler
mesh_terms: D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011203:Poverty; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States