About Affordability
Health care is a basic human need, one that Californians rely on to live, grow, and prosper. Unfortunately, the cost of care has become too high for many working families. For years, California’s hospitals have made headway toward controlling costs. To ensure care for every Californian, the entire health care field must tighten its belt — insurance companies, physicians, labor unions, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and more.
Improving affordability is a priority for California hospitals — but with nearly two-thirds of health care spending occurring outside of hospitals, solving this challenge will take a combined effort from the entire health care system. To move toward our shared goals of affordable, equitable, and high-quality health care, hospitals work closely with the Office of Health Care Affordability.
OHCA Board Could Approve Creation of Statewide Hospital Sector in Early 2025
What’s happening: The Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) board met earlier this week to discuss options for defining hospitals as a sector for spending target purposes, as well as receive an update on progress toward adopting a behavioral health investment benchmark.
What else to know: CHA wrote to the board and provided public comment, pressing that the adoption of a hospital sector definition is premature and misguided, while stating the importance of including the full continuum of clinically appropriate services in OHCA’s behavioral health investment benchmark.
OHCA Board Selects a New Chair, Deliberates Over Hospital Sector Targets and More
What’s happening: At its most recent meeting, the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) board elected Kim Johnson, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, as its new chair — and considered potential adoption of hospital sector targets, a provisional approach to measuring hospital spending, and a proposal for tracking quality and equity.
What else to know: Ahead of the meeting, CHA wrote to the board on these topics, urging further learning and progress toward implementation before adopting sector targets; supporting a comprehensive yet streamlined approach to measuring quality, equity, and access; and asking that the behavioral health investment goal consider the full continuum of behavioral health services.
Big Week for State Health Policy Advocacy
This week, all four of CHA’s state advocacy priorities converged in Sacramento, with significant developments on each. Sharing a brief recap of this week’s activities and next steps.
Infographic: Affordable Health Care Is a Shared Responsibility
Issue Brief: Office of Health Care Affordability Must Protect Access to High-Quality Hospital Care
OHCA must engage every sector of health care in making data-driven decisions that improve care access, quality, and equity.
Key Messages: Understand Health Care Costs and OHCA’s Role in Shaping Health Care Delivery
California hospitals are among the most cost-efficient in the nation, despite factors outside their control.
Hospital Finance Week: Spotlight: California’s New Office of Health Care Affordability
This session will review the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) authorizing statute and the specific requirements of the Office, including: Increasing transparency on cost and quality Developing cost targets for the health care field Enforcing compliance through financial penalties Monitoring market transactions that may adversely affect market competition, prices, quality, access, and the total […]