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Los Angeles County Public Health – COVID-19 Vaccination Program

Member research indicates that the number one place patients prefer to get vaccinated is in their doctor’s office. We are calling on all Vaccines for Children, Pediatrics, Family Practice and other Primary Care and other eligible ambulatory care practice providers to please sign up to become a COVID-19 vaccine administrator today and make it easy for your patients to get vaccinated. Onboarding support is available through Physicians for Healthy California to receive up to $55,000 CalVaxGrant funding to administer COVID-19 vaccines to your patients!

There are three simple steps:

Step 1: Enroll in myCAvax

The California Department of Public Health and Accenture are providing onboarding support to providers and will work directly with you to discuss the steps necessary for you to apply for eligibility to receive and administer COVID-19 vaccines. For one-on-one support, please contact myCAvaxInfo@cdph.ca.gov. For more information, you can also watch their webinar on How to Enroll in the California COVID-19 Vaccination Program. Additional enrollment information can be found here.

Step 2: Apply for the CalVaxGrant and Transition to LAC DPH Onboarding

CalVaxGrant is offering up to $55,000 to help physicians and medical practices (with 200 or fewer physicians) to administer COVID-19 vaccines and reimburse related expenses incurred since November 2020. Allowable expenses include staffing, training, technology, infrastructure, supplies/equipment, and administrative overhead.

Organizations must have completed sections A and B of the myCAvax application. Medical practices can apply to receive $10,000 for up to five vaccination sites for a total of $50,000. Small practice providers can also receive an additional $1,000 per site (up to five sites for an additional $5,000) if their vaccination sites match high priority areas as noted by the California Department of Public Health.

Once enrolled in myCAvax, your practice will be referred to LAC DPH for onboarding to receive local supplies of COVID-19 vaccine. Additional support is available through the DPH Provider Call Center, at 833-505-0761, Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm, and COVIDVaccineReq@ph.lacounty.gov. You can also reach LAC DPH’s Onboarding Team via email at COVAXonboard@ph.lacounty.gov.

Step 3: Complete LAC DPH Onboarding

An LAC DPH Onboarding Analyst will support you through the onboarding readiness checklist to ensure you have completed all requirements, which include a compliance assessment and reporting requirements review. For more information, you can join the LAC DPH Vaccine Provider Officer Hours meetings, Wednesdays from 9 am to 10 am, through Microsoft Teams via computer or mobile app or phone conference line +1 323-776-6996, 880326681#.

Additional support is available through the DPH Provider Call Center, at 833-505-0761, Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm, and COVIDVaccineReq@ph.lacounty.gov. You can also reach DPH’s Onboarding Team via email at COVAXonboard@ph.lacounty.gov.

Combat Physician Burnout

This Friday, September 17 is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. Before COVID-19, one physician committed suicide every 24 hours in the US. Undoubtedly and regrettably, those numbers have increased.

LACMA has several initiatives to combat physician burnout:

• MD/DO Lifeline: Designed to provide resources, support and programs for physicians in crisis.
• Medical Practice Makeover: LACMA President, Dr. Jeffery Lee, is leading an effort to deliver grants, supplies, consulting and resources for practices in need
• Resources: LACMA has almost two dozen preferred partners to help practices
• Well Being Index is a convenient and confidential wellness assessment. View Here and the invitation code is: LACMA WELLNESS
• PPE: If a practice has supply needs, LACMA can help!
• Physicians and others in crisis can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

Los Angeles Unified School District Update

As members may be aware, Los Angeles Unified School District began mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for students last week, the first large school system in the nation to do so. LACMA president, Dr. Jeffery Lee issued a statement:

The Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) joins the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer in applauding the L.A. Unified School District and the Board of Education for mandating all children 12 and older in Los Angeles public schools to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January to enter campus.

Additionally, we thank L.A. schools Interim Supt. Megan K. Reilly for taking the critical step to keep children, staff, and communities that physicians care for each day, safer from an insidious virus.

With the Delta variant continuing to ravage our communities, it is time to take this action. The Pfizer vaccine received full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for people 16 and older and those 12 to 15 can be inoculated under a federal emergency use authorization. Mask wearing, social distancing, adequate air filtration, testing and vaccines have proven to be the most effective defense.

LACMA is the state’s largest county medical association with over 7,000 members representing nearly every medical specialty and spanning more than 5,000 square miles.

WeVAx+LA Public Service Campaign

LACMA joined Meals on Wheels West and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health to launch the WeVax + LA campaign to address vaccine hesitancy in communities of color.

We encourage members to share the public service announcement flyers with patients and help distribute the public service announcement!

Watch the announcement here.

Share the Human Services Association flyer here.

Share the Providence flyer here.

State to Leverage Regional and Community HIEs to Establish Statewide Interoperability

The Assembly Trailer Bill 133 (AB133) signed by Governor Newsom on July 27^th aims to implement and expand a number of ambitious programs including calling for California healthcare providers, health insurers, federal and state government agencies and other healthcare entities to share and exchange critical clinical data with each other over the next few years.

The legislation provides the California Department of Health and Human Services (CHHS) with the authority to establish a Data Exchange Framework that will standardize how health information is shared across the health and social services systems, while maintaining patient privacy, data security, and promoting equity.

As part of the state’s role, the bill also directs CHHS to convene a stakeholder advisory group to develop and implement a framework and a set of policies that govern the health information sharing among healthcare entities. The first Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting was on Tuesday, August 31st. The discussion topics included history of CA health information exchange and gathering feedback on the vision and group charter. The next step is creating a subcommittee to develop a draft Data Sharing Agreement.

The Data Exchange Framework must be finalized by July 1, 2022 and include a mandate by the legislation requiring providers’ full participation in the exchange beginning January 31, 2024.

“The passage of AB133 preserves the investments already made in California regional HIEs in the last ten years,” said Ali Modaressi, LANES CEO. “I commend the legislature health committee leaders and the governor for reinvesting in the existing HIE infrastructure in California and leading the charge to pave the way for statewide interoperability that requires health plans and providers to share patient data.” This is not the first time CA is rejecting a single entity statewide HIE.

The COVID-19 crisis continues to highlight the importance of data sharing initiatives. The AB133 data sharing requirement will help close the data gaps in future public health crisis as the pandemic has shown how critical local approaches to healthcare are in the U.S. To support the providers in Los Angeles, LANES continues to work closely with public health agencies in making COVID-19 vaccinations available at the point-of-care and helping to identify health disparities. LANES salutes and thanks the hardworking healthcare professionals on the frontline of this pandemic. It is with great enthusiasm that the momentum continues and the leadership, policy makers, and stakeholders take advantage of this unique opportunity for California to deliver on the promise of interoperability in the state.

Visit the LANES website here.

A Week Away from LACMA's 150th Virtual Installation

We look forward to virtually celebrating our 150th Installation of President and Officers. For everyone's safety, we will stream the event live on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021, via zoom at 7:15 pm PST.

Join us for the livestream here.

Click here to donate to Medical Student Scholarships.