Investing in Primary Care Helps Keep Californians Healthy and Out of the Hospital
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: To support more investment in primary care, improve health outcomes and lower costs, the California Health Care Affordability Board approved benchmarks for primary care investment, aiming to reach a 15 percent investment over time.
SACRAMENTO – Today, the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) is announcing that California’s Health Care Affordability Board has approved California’s first benchmarks for increasing investment in primary care.
California currently spends as little as 7 cents per health care dollar on primary care. Benchmarks released by the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) aim to increase that to 15 cents per health care dollar over 10 years – in line with the highest performing health systems internationally.
“Investing in primary care works: Research finds that when states invest more in primary care, their residents have better health outcomes and fewer visits to emergency departments and hospital admissions,” said HCAI Director Elizabeth Landsberg. “These benchmarks will make California a national leader in primary care investment, which is key to building a high quality, equitable health system and controlling costs.”
The Board passed two related benchmarks for increasing primary care investment:
- An annual improvement benchmark: Calling for a 0.5 to 1 percentage point per year increase in primary care spending as a percentage of total health care spending for each health plan until 2033; and
- A statewide investment benchmark: Calling for 15 percent of total health care spending to be spent on primary care by 2034.
WHY THIS MATTERS: Primary care refers to the provision of whole-person, integrated, accessible, and equitable health care by clinicians who are accountable for addressing the majority of an individual’s health and wellness needs across settings and through sustained relationships with patients, families, and communities. Shifting more spending to primary and preventive care aims to help keep people healthier for longer. Increasing primary care and behavioral health spending has been shown to improve health outcomes and lower overall health spending.
BIGGER PICTURE: The Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) was created by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022. OHCA’s goal is to drive toward a lower cost, high value system. Earlier this year its Board approved a statewide health care spending target of 3 percent to be phased in over time.
OHCA’s work is part of broader Newsom Administration efforts to address affordability, expand access and improve quality of health care. California has expanded Medi-Cal for income-eligible Californians regardless of immigration status, starting first with children and now to all eligible adults. Expanding Medi-Cal and improving access strengthens the financial resilience of Californians and their families. Through California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal – or CalAIM – California is addressing how social drivers of health, like access to housing and food, affect people’s health, and improving quality and equity in our Medi-Cal programs.