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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
As part of California Connected, public health workers from communities across the state will connect with individuals who test positive for COVID-19 and work with them, and people they have been in close contact with, to ensure they have access to confidential testing, as well as medical care and other services to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The state’s program is led by the administration in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health, local public health departments and the University of California, San Francisco and Los Angeles, which have launched a robust online training academy to develop a culturally competent and skilled contact tracing workforce.
“We are all eager to get back to work and play, and that’s why we’re asking Californians to answer the call when they see their local public health department reaching out by phone, email or text,” said Gov. Newsom. “That simple action of answering the call could save lives and help keep our families and communities healthy.”
To prevent the spread of this virus, public health workers will connect Californians with confidential testing. They may also recommend medical care, and that individuals who could be infectious separate themselves from others in their home to protect those around them.
Information provided to local public health departments is confidential under California law. Public health authorities will not share that information with outside entities. That information will be used for public health purposes only. Contact tracers will not ask for financial information, social security numbers or immigration status.
“A key step in stopping the spread of COVID-19 is quickly identifying and limiting new cases, across the diversity of our populations – and that’s exactly what this statewide program does,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, California Department of Public Health director and state health officer. “We are bringing together the best minds in public health, academia and private industry to design a program that can help lower the risk for COVID-19 in all of our communities and keep us on the path to reopening.”
The California Connected public awareness campaign is getting off the ground this week with support from multiple private partners who have committed a total of $5.1 million in funding and in-kind resources to help educate all Californians, and underserved communities in particular.
These partners include Jeff Skoll and his organizations (The Skoll Foundation, Participant, and Ending Pandemics), The California Health Care Foundation, The California Endowment, Twitter and Facebook, in addition to existing media partners engaged in the larger public awareness effort.
Beginning this week, Californians across the state will hear radio ads and see billboards, social media posts and videos in multiple languages encouraging them to answer the call to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Public health workers across the state – identified on caller ID as the “CA COVID Team” – will call, text and email individuals who test positive for COVID-19 and people they may have unknowingly exposed to the virus.
The state plans to launch 10,000 contact tracers statewide as part of its plan to reopen California. More than 500 individuals have been trained under the new contact tracing program, and more than 300 are being trained this week.
To streamline and coordinate these efforts, Accenture, a leading global professional services company, is launching a data management platform developed by Salesforce and contact capabilities (phone calls, texts and emails) in collaboration with Amazon Web Service’s Amazon Connect. These organizations have already successfully implemented a large-scale contact tracing effort in Massachusetts.
For more information, visit www.CaliforniaConnected.ca.gov .
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
While the vessel will depart to return to its home port in San Diego, medical personnel from the ship will remain in the Los Angeles region to support California's response requirements.
These crew members continuing their mission within the state include:
– Four, 6-member medical support teams to be deployed as needed within the region for critical needs including skilled nursing facilities.
– Forty medical staffers will remain at the state-operated alternative care site established at Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa.
– While announcing the Mercy's departure, state officials thanked the federal government for their support and partnership in providing the ship to aid California.
"Our work to protect public health and safety is far from done but having the Mercy and its highly-trained medical personnel stationed in the most populous region of the state was critical to our ability to respond in the first stages of the pandemic. We thank our colleagues in the U.S. Navy, FEMA and the federal administration for their support in allowing us to use the Mercy," said Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci.
"The medical professionals aboard Mercy are proud and humbled to have assisted FEMA, the State of California, Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, while serving as a 'relief valve' to the community during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Every patient brought aboard created one more available bed in a local hospital," said Capt. John Rotruck, commanding officer, Medical Treatment Facility USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). "Although USNS Mercy is departing the Port of Los Angeles, a number of our medical treatment personnel will continue our mission in Los Angeles through their support to state healthcare providers at various skilled nursing facilities."
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Though the COVID-19 pandemic takes the focus from health care organizations, local hospitals continue to see emergency department visits due to opioid dependence and withdrawal symptoms.
Adventist Health Clear Lake’s leadership said the hospital is committed to treating the underlying disease of addiction and combating drug use.
Adventist Health Clear Lake routinely treats patients battling opioid use disorder in the emergency department, and there were 19 deaths in Lake County in 2018 due to drug overdose.
People in rural communities have minimal resources for treating opioid use disorder and the barriers to receiving treatment can be high.
Adventist Health Clear Lake, among other hospitals in California, is changing this through the Naloxone Distribution Project and the California Bridge Program grants.
These programs provide training and resources to expand Adventist Health Clear Lake’s existing Medication Assisted Treatment program.
The California Bridge Program is an accelerated training program for health care providers facilitated by the Public Health Institute’s Bridge Program, which aims to enhance access to around-the-clock treatment for substance use disorders.
Program sites such as Adventist Health Clear Lake will receive funding, training and technical assistance to improve and increase access to facility-wide treatment and referral of acute symptoms of substance use disorders.
The Bridge Program is funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grant to the California Department of Health Care Services.
At Adventist Health Clear Lake, the Bridge Program employs a substance use navigator, or SUN, who works full-time at Adventist Health Clear Lake.
The SUN, Tina Allen, a certified substance counselor with 17 years’ experience, meets people in the emergency department as they enter care and helps them coordinate the treatment they need after discharge from the hospital.
The Narcan/Naloxone Distribution Project, or NDP, is also funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and administered by DHCS to combat opioid overdose-related deaths throughout California.
The NDP aims to address the opioid crisis by reducing opioid overdose deaths through the provision of free Narcan/Naloxone in its nasal spray formulation.
Narcan/Naloxone is a medication used for the complete or partial reversal of an opioid overdose.
The grant provides training and distribution of Narcan/Naloxone at the Adventist Health Clear Lake emergency department.
These grants offer an opportunity to treat addiction like other medical conditions by building treatment for addiction into the health care system.
When patients present at the emergency room with signs of opioid withdrawal, they can be offered immediate treatment with buprenorphine or Suboxone, an FDA-approved medication that treats both withdrawal and cravings.
Studies have shown that people who were started on Buprenorphine in the emergency department were twice as likely to still be in treatment one month later, compared to “detox” or referral for counseling alone.
Patients are then connected with outpatient addiction treatment options with same-day, next-day or within 72-hour appointments.
“For the first time, instead of just discharging a patient from the emergency department we will be able to provide an opportunity for them to get into recovery and connected to services the same day or next day,” said Allen.
Allen sees each patient presenting with addiction symptoms and offers recovery services. During the weeks from March 13 to April 23, she worked with 26 patients with substance use disorder, and 13 were bridged to recovery. Six of the seven with opioid use disorder were bridged to Medication Addiction Treatment followup appointments.
Susan DeSalvo-Reed is a registered nurse who serves as the project coordinator for Adventist Health Clear Lake’s Medication Addiction Treatment program after previously serving as a coordinator for SafeRx Lake County’s opioid coalition.
“It is gratifying to be evolving from prevention into treatment and recovery with the highest level of care, support and resources to those seeking addiction treatment,” DeSalvo-Reed said. “We will now be able to offer Medication Addiction Treatment in the emergency department to a person in crisis on the spot. This approach has shown a 60 percent success rate.”
The hospital offers continued addiction treatment through its Live Well Program in Clearlake with Dr. Melody Law and Dr. Robert Gardner and Live Well MAT Navigator, Denise Newman, who provides recovery resources to patients with substance use disorders.
At the Live Well Program, the patient receives continuing care including suboxone, medical care and counseling for substance use. The model is a comprehensive treatment program that supports patients at each step of their recovery.
Dr. Marc Shapiro, Adventist Health Clear Lake medical officer, is the champion for the Bridge Program.
“Many of our patients start to use prescription opioids for the treatment of real pain, especially after an injury or surgical procedure. Dependence on the prescription medication is often unintentional,” Shapiro explained. “Often, they cannot stop the medication without severe pain and withdrawal and feel they have no options but to continue use. These grants offer our patients new expanded options through Medication Assisted Treatment both in the emergency department and at outpatient clinics.”
Those who would like to find out about treatment options for substance use disorder may go to the emergency department at Adventist Health Clear Lake Hospital at any time. Narcan/Naloxone distribution kits are available 24 hours a day in the emergency department.
If you are experiencing withdrawal you can be treated immediately and will be connected with a Substance Use Navigator who will assist you in finding the recovery option that works best for you.
Alternatively, you can contact Tina Allen, substance abuse navigator, at 707-349-4340.
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- Written by: Covered California
The pace of sign-ups has been nearly three times the level that Covered California saw during the same period in 2019.
“We want to remind consumers that they can get access to the care they need during this crisis, either through Covered California or Medi-Cal,” said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California. “We know there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who have either lost their health insurance or were uninsured when this crisis began, and we want them to know there is a path to coverage ready for them.”
The enrollment data covers the three-week period from March 20, when Covered California opened the health insurance exchange to any eligible uninsured individuals who need health care coverage amid the COVID-19 emergency, through April 10.
Anyone who meets Covered California’s eligibility requirements, which are similar to those in place during the annual open-enrollment period, can sign up for coverage through June 30.
In addition, Covered California has seen tremendous consumer interest online, with more than 885,000 new users visiting CoveredCA.com, which is twice the number of visits seen during the same time period last year. During the same period, of those coming to CoveredCA.com, there were also more than 129,000 unique page views to the Medi-Cal page.
“While Covered California is enrolling tens of thousands of people, we know that is only a small part of California’s response and that many, many more people will get the health care they need through Medi-Cal,” Lee said.
Signing up for health care coverage
Consumers can easily enroll through CoveredCA.com and find out whether they are eligible for financial help through Covered California or if they are eligible for no-cost or low-cost coverage through Medi-Cal.
People who sign up through Covered California will have their coverage begin on the first day of the following month. Those eligible for Medi-Cal can have coverage that is effective retroactively to the first day of the month from when they submitted their application.
“We are living in unprecedented times, and California is doing everything it can to make sure people have access to care during this public health emergency,” Lee said. “Having more people insured and protected is the right thing for California’s families and helps keep everyone better off as those with insurance don’t delay getting needed care.”
In addition to enrolling online, consumers who need health care coverage can visit Covered California’s “Find Help” page to get assistance over the phone from one of Covered California’s thousands of Certified Insurance Agents. The “Help on Demand” feature allows consumers to get a call back from a certified enroller.
“Right now, when social distancing is the new normal and an essential response to the coronavirus pandemic, health insurance is only a phone call away,” Lee said. “Being restricted to your home does not mean you cannot get personal and confidential help that is free.”
Consumers can easily find out if they are eligible for Covered California or Medi-Cal, and see which plans are available in their area, by using the Shop and Compare Tool and entering their ZIP code, household income and the ages of those who need coverage.
Reaching the unemployed
Covered California is also working with California’s Employment Development Department, or EDD, to alert the uninsured that they can get health care coverage through the exchange or Medi-Cal. Covered California produced the following insert, which is being included in unemployment benefits that are being sent to consumers. During each of the next three months, Covered California plans to deliver 3.5 million inserts to EDD for distribution.
Lowering the cost of coverage for those with insurance
Existing Covered California consumers may be able to lower the cost of their coverage if they have experienced a loss of income due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The price of consumers’ monthly premiums is based in part on their income, and if that income goes down, they may be eligible for additional financial help from the federal government, state, or both.
Consumers can report an income change by logging in to their account at CoveredCA.com. Consumers who are having trouble accessing their account can reset their password online.
Coverage you can count on
During this public health emergency, it is important to note that all health plans offered through Covered California and by Medi-Cal provide telehealth options for enrollees, giving individuals the ability to connect with a health care professional by phone or video without having to personally visit a doctor’s office or hospital.
All medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19 are free of charge. This includes telehealth or doctor’s office visits as well as network emergency room or urgent care visits when necessary for the purpose of screening and testing for COVID-19.
In addition, Medi-Cal covers costs associated with COVID-19 testing, evaluation and treatment services in both its managed care plans and with fee for service providers. Covered California health plans will help cover costs that arise from any required treatment or hospitalization.
In addition, most Covered California plans offer “first-dollar” coverage, meaning outpatient services are not subject to a deductible.
“A core part of our mission is improving access to high-quality health care, and that has never been more important than it is right now in California,” Lee said.
New state subsidies help Californians lower their health care costs
Californians who sign up for coverage may be able to benefit from a new state subsidy program that expanded the amount of financial help available to many people. The subsidies are already benefiting about 625,000 Covered California consumers.
Roughly 576,000 lower-income consumers, who earn between 200 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level, are receiving an average of $608 per month, per household in federal tax credits and new state subsidies (which averages $23 per household). The financial assistance lowers the average household monthly premium from $881 per month to $272, a decrease of 70 percent.
In addition, nearly 32,000 middle-income consumers have already qualified for new state subsidies, with average state subsidy to eligible households at $504 per month, lowering their monthly premium by nearly half.
Many of those eligible for the new middle-income state subsidies are an estimated 280,000 Californians who are likely eligible for new state or existing federal subsidies but kept their “off-exchange” coverage.
They are also eligible to switch to Covered California and benefit from the financial help. During this special-enrollment period, Covered California, its health insurance companies and Certified Insurance Agents will be reaching out to these Californians to let them know how they can save money on their premiums – which will help them keep their coverage in challenging financial times.
Covered California had established a special-enrollment period for those who were newly becoming aware of state subsidies or the new California mandate penalty, and sign-ups during the special enrollment period prior to March 20 were up 80 percent over the same period in 2019.
Those interested in learning more about their coverage options can also:
– Visit www.CoveredCA.com .
– Get free and confidential assistance over the phone, in a variety of languages, from a certified enroller.
– Have a certified enroller call them and help them for free. Call Covered California at 800-300-1506.