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Orange County street medicine program expands to four more cities
CalOptima Health, Orange County's public health system for low-income residents, is expanding its street medicine program to four more cities.
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Gina Ferazzi
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Getty Images
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Topline:
CalOptima Health’s street medicine program is doubling its reach by expanding to four more cities — Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Westminster, officials announced Monday.
How it works: CalOptima is a public health insurance plan for low income residents in Orange County. The “doctor’s office on wheels” will bring primary health care, behavioral health services and case management to unhoused people, meeting them wherever they are. The four cities join Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Anaheim and Santa Ana.
What’s the cost of the program? CalOptima allocated $4.3 million to get the program started. Health officials will have two years to sign up 200 patients for the program to be self-sustained through the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, or CalAIM. The expansion comes on the heels of the agency’s Care Traffic Control Center, a collaborative hub for street medicine teams.
Officials say: “Our goal at the end of the day, really, is to help our members on their journey to permanent housing.” Yunkyung Kim, chief operating officer at CalOptima, told LAist. “It is difficult, if not impossible, to be truly healthy on the streets.”
What’s next? The street medicine services are expected to launch next year.
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