April 15, 2015 Senator Ed Hernandez, Chair, Senate Health Committee State Capitol, Room 2191 Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Senator Hernandez, On behalf of La Clinica de La Raza, I am writing to express our opposition to SB 346 as we have serious concerns regarding the impact the bill will have on existing partnerships between hospitals and community benefit organizations like ours. California's community benefit law has been in place and working since 1994 and serves as a model for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). SB 346 is unnecessary, conflicts with provisions of the ACA and will increase costs for the state's government and hospitals to comply with inconsistent federal and state reporting requirements. Currently, hospitals work collaboratively with communities and stakeholders to assess local health needs and tailor services and investments to address each community’s specific needs. La Clinica has embraced this collaboration and is making great strides in ensuring that our most vulnerable populations in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano County have the health care services they need. Partnerships between hospitals and community benefit organizations like ours are critical in addressing local health needs. For more than 40 years, La Clinica has been dedicated to improving the quality of life of the diverse populations we serve by providing culturally appropriate, high-quality, and accessible health care for all. We work closely with our hospital partners’ Community Benefit departments to address health care issues ranging from chronic disease to oral health, case management and health insurance enrollment. Our partners include Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente and John Muir, and together we have worked to help low-income patients find consistent primary care and navigate emergency services. In addition, ‘our partners have supported facility renovations and expansion of primary care in underserved communities. SB 346 is nearly identical to similar measures (AB 503 in 2014, AB 975 in 2013) that were debated and overwhelmingly defeated in the Legislature. By eliminating the ability of hospitals to tailor programs to their specific community's needs, SB 346 would limit access to care for our most vulnerable populations, cause deep medical cuts and harm successful partnerships between hospitals and community benefit groups Policy makers and health care providers must focus on expanding access to quality, affordable medical care, as well as services like those provided by La Clinica, SB 346 imposes vague, tunrealistic and costly mandates that will ultimately limit access, not enhance it, We respectfully urge your opposition, in order to preserve vitally-needed services like ours. ncerely, Cb Diana Reyes Executive Assistant on behalf of Jane Garcia Chief Executive Officer- La Clinica de La Raza