In partnership with the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) and Cedars-Sinai, the Center for Care Innovations (CCI) is launching a new program designed to reduce disparities in telehealth care called the Connected Care Accelerator: Equity Collaborative. This collaborative will improve access to telehealth for patients in historically underinvested communities.

Research shows impressive gains in telehealth during the pandemic:

  • Most healthcare providers expanded the use of telehealth services.
  • This expansion improved access to services and resulted in a drop in no-show rates, with people receiving services that otherwise would have been delayed or unavailable.

However, more work is needed to ensure equity in access to telehealth. There is a troubling digital divide in California and the rest of the country, with many communities not able to benefit from telehealth. We have learned that many have been left out of telehealth care, or limited to audio only services, because they lack broadband connectivity, they face digital barriers or language barriers, or processes have not been implemented to provide access. The gap in access to healthcare will continue to widen if these challenges are not addressed.

Opportunity

Participating organizations will receive $75,000, access to monthly coaching, an online learning community, virtual convenings, and tools to reduce and/or eliminate disparities in access to telehealth. All participating organizations will focus on at least two of the following areas:

  • Improving the use of video telehealth
  • Supporting patients with digital barriers
  • Expanding access to telehealth for patients with a preferred language other than English

Outcome

The expected outcome is that participants demonstrate increased access to telehealth for the populations they prioritize for telehealth equity interventions.

Timeline

The learning collaborative will run for 13 months, from April 2022 through May 2023.

Learn More

Listen below to our most recent episode of CCI’s Health Pilots podcast, where we have one of our Connected Care Accelerator (CCA) alums, Dr. Mai-Khanh Bui-Duy from Salud Para La Gente, share about her experience working in the collaborative. Dr. Bui-Duy gives us insight into the benefits of engaging with her fellow participants in CCA, as well as how the program has supported her ongoing journey to provide telehealth.