Altamed Health Services Corp

AltaMed's mission is to eliminate disparities in health care access and outcomes by providing superior quality health and human services through an integrated world-class delivery system for Latino, multi-ethnic and underserved communities in Southern California.

Founded in 1969 as the East Los Angeles Barrio Free Clinic, AltaMed has since grown to become the largest unaffiliated non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center in California with over 40 clinics serving nearly 240,000 unduplicated patients annually through over 2 million clinic visits and 400,000 virtual visits. Most patients live in vulnerable, underserved communities throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, AltaMed continues to increase access to comprehensive health and human services to multi-ethnic and Latino medically underserved communities. AltaMed is committed to providing integrated, quality medical care to low-income populations, the uninsured and under-insured and those with limited healthcare options and to ensure that programs and services are accessible to all populations—regardless of ability to pay or other barriers to accessing healthcare services such as language, transportation, or cultural affinity. Services. With clinical and administrative staff that live and work in target communities and represent its patient population, AltaMed effectively engages its patients through multicultural services that break down language and cultural barriers to accessing services. AltaMed provides a continuum of multilingual and culturally competent health and pre-emptive care services that include primary care, pediatrics, obstetrics/ gynecology, geriatric medicine and healthcare for seniors, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, family planning, youth outreach and pregnancy prevention, dental care, substance abuse treatment and prevention, and mental health services. Clinics offer walk-in access along with daily scheduled patient visits. Launched and fully accredited in 2019, AltaMed has a robust (18 resident, 3 cohort) Family Medicine Residency Program training physicians in primary care within a community health center setting. AltaMed also administers Escalera STEM, Lideres Avanzando, and Health Fellowship programs, designed to support youth and young adults through post-secondary school and into the workforce. And for more than a decade, AltaMed has empowered populations among its patient community through integrated civic engagement activities including voter registration and education, Get Out the Vote (GOTV) drives, immigration/ naturalization and leadership-development activities and services.   

1. AltaMed has delivered quality care to underserved communities of Southern CA for over 50 years. As one of the largest independent Federally Qualified Community Health Centers in the U.S., AltaMed delivers more than 2 million annual patient visits (and 400,000 virtual visits) to approximately 240,000 unique patients through 45 service delivery sites in L.A. and Orange Counties. 2. In 2021, AltaMed increased mammogram screening rates in its OC County clinics for under-uninsured Latina patients from 61% to 63%. 3. Through a CDC REACH grant, AltaMed worked closely with 211 L.A. County to update the healthy living portal which directs users to local farmers markets, health fairs, healthy restaurants, and free/low-cost exercise classes

AltaMed focuses on a range of clinical quality goals to promote a standard for health care outcomes across the organization. Currently, our OC clinics have achieved 42.18% for Breast Cancer Screening rates with a year-end goal of 60.13%; 51.70% for Cervical Cancer Screening rates with a year-end goal of 63.64%; 23.44% for Colorectal Cancer Screen rates with a year-end goal of 46.51%; and 45.05% for Chlamydia Screening rates with a year-end goal of 75.17%. Nearly into its second quarter, AltaMed is on track to achieve and/or exceed the year-end goals for these four measures. AltaMed strives to provide an exceptional experience to all patients and uses Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys to monitor and measure patient satisfaction. The surveys collect data from patients regarding appointment scheduling, staff communication, and care coordination. The current Overall Doctor Rating Score is 82.69% (90th percentile) with a year-end goal of 96.10%. Willingness to Recommend providers is at 84.10% with a year-end goal of 87.10%.

As >90% of AltaMed's patients live within 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, there is a high need of access to a variety of health and human services. 1. There is a great need for additional minority, culturally competent physicians and health providers in AltaMed's service areas. 2. Need to recruit highly-qualified primary care physicians to provide health care to vulnerable and low-income communities in L.A. and Orange counties. 3. Need to obtain a customer relationship management database for workforce development department to track participants after high school/college/graduate school completion. 4. Dental equipment for new Anaheim dental site. 5. The need to strengthen primary care and the workforce by establishing fellowship programs to train community-based practicing primary care physician and/or physician assistant champions to lead health care transformation and enhance teaching in community-based settings. 

AltaMed provides health care and human services throughout a service area in Southern California that extends from East Los Angeles, to include metropolitan, southeast, and northeast Los Angeles, to cities and areas of central and northern Orange County, including Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Orange, Anaheim, and Santa Ana.