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Event Description
After over a year in crisis response mode, health and homelessness systems are poised for greater integration than ever before. The covid-19 pandemic demanded new partnerships, innovative approaches, and increased flexibility. Now, with vaccines widely available, we have an opportunity to take a reflective moment. How can we build on the lessons learned over the past year to improve coordination and integration across systems in a more intentional way? Building on last quarter’s SCG Health Funders conversation on Changes to Medi-Cal in a Post-Covid World, join us for a deep dive into the opportunities that have surfaced at the intersection of health and homelessness, and ways philanthropy can play a supportive role going forward.
About Health Funders Group
The SCG Health Funders Group convenes multiple times a year to explore emerging issues in healthcare and health policy through an intersectional approach. The group hosts topic-based and peer-to-peer learning sessions. These facilitated sessions will provide a forum for updates on critical issues, highlights of promising programs and opportunities for collaboration.
Speakers
Al Ballesteros, MBA
President and CEO, JWCH Institute, Inc.
Al Ballesteros is the President & Chief Executive Officer of JWCH Institute, Inc., a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, Federally Qualified Community Health Center. He is also a commissioner and past co-chair of the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV, appointed by the LA County Board of Supervisors. Other current community work includes: Member of the Board of Directors, Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County; Founder and Publisher of Adelante Magazine, a Latino Gay and Lesbian Monthly Publication produced and distributed in California.
Heidi Behforouz, M.D. SCG Member
Medical Director of Housing for Health, Los Angeles County
Heidi L Behforouz, M.D. Physician leader, consultant, and clinician has focused her career on the health issues of vulnerable populations. She is currently Medical Director of Housing for Health (HFH) at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LAC DHS) - the second-largest safety net provider in the United States. Here, she oversees the county’s clinical initiatives to improve the health and wellness of the largest homeless population in the country.
At LAC DHS, she has also served as the Medical Director for the Care Connection Program, a primary care clinic-anchored complex care management program that connected community health workers to care management teams within the medical home. She also led the Primary Care Resource Center’s efforts to enhance complex care management team efforts in the medical homes and launch a shared care management platform to facilitate shared work plans and communication between PCMH staff.
She is a board-certified internist who trained at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She is a past recipient of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration and Office of Minority Health and has used this funding to study the impact of community-based complex care interventions in improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable individuals in urban settings. She currently practices primary care at the STAR clinic in Skid Row, Los Angeles.
She is Founder and past Executive Director of Partners In Health’s Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) project in Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Behforouz continues to provide consultation in complex care management to accountable care organizations, managed care organizations, health departments, and community-based organizations around the country. Dr. Behforouz is committed to the transformation of primary care to better serve the needs of the most vulnerable patients in our communities and has been privileged to champion the role of community health workers in effecting lasting change in our health care delivery system and health of our communities.
At LAC DHS, she has also served as the Medical Director for the Care Connection Program, a primary care clinic-anchored complex care management program that connected community health workers to care management teams within the medical home. She also led the Primary Care Resource Center’s efforts to enhance complex care management team efforts in the medical homes and launch a shared care management platform to facilitate shared work plans and communication between PCMH staff.
She is a board-certified internist who trained at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She is a past recipient of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration and Office of Minority Health and has used this funding to study the impact of community-based complex care interventions in improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable individuals in urban settings. She currently practices primary care at the STAR clinic in Skid Row, Los Angeles.
She is Founder and past Executive Director of Partners In Health’s Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) project in Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Behforouz continues to provide consultation in complex care management to accountable care organizations, managed care organizations, health departments, and community-based organizations around the country. Dr. Behforouz is committed to the transformation of primary care to better serve the needs of the most vulnerable patients in our communities and has been privileged to champion the role of community health workers in effecting lasting change in our health care delivery system and health of our communities.
Jennifer Vanore SCG Member
President and Chief Operating Officer, UniHealth Foundation
Established in 1998, UniHealth Foundation is an independent private health care foundation committed to being a pace-setter in health philanthropy, while provoking and sustaining changes that positively impact health outcomes. Jennifer Vanore joined UniHealth Foundation in 2015, having previously served as Program Manager for The California Endowment’s Center for Healthy Communities. Jen received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where her research focused on the social, economic and political development of the hospital industry in Los Angeles County. Jen is responsible for overseeing the nearly $15 million in annual grantmaking and the day-to-day functions of the Foundation. She also works closely with the Board to support innovative new programs and services to improve population and community health outcomes throughout Southern California. Jen currently sits on the Los Angeles Regional Homeless Advisory Council and serves on the Commission of Recreation and Parks for the City of Pasadena.
Cheryl Winter SCG Member
Senior Program Manager, CSH
Cheryl Winter serves as a Senior Program Manager at CSH Los Angeles. Her technical assistance focuses on developing health and housing partnerships, conducting systems analyses and examining innovative funding models that grow the pipeline of supportive and affordable housing projects, build cross-system partnerships, and equip providers with the tools they need to deliver quality supportive housing services.
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