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April 2, 2015

The Honorable Rob Bonta


Chair, Assembly Health Committee
State Capitol, Room 6005
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Assembly Member Bonta:
On behalf of the patients, staff and Board of Venice Family Clinic, I am writing to
express our enthusiastic support for AB 1046. We believe this bill strikes an
important balance in the desire to create greater efficiency and transparency to
community benefit reporting for not-for-profit hospitals, while protecting the
critical partnerships between hospitals and local organizations that are helping
provide necessary resources and services to our most vulnerable populations.
As you know, Californias community benefit law has been in place and working
since 1994 and serves as a model for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Under
existing law, hospitals work collaboratively with communities and stakeholders to
assess local health needs and tailor programs to address each communitys
specific needs. Detailed reports are posted annually on the Office of Statewide
Health Planning (OSHPD) website.
AB 1046 further strengthens the collaboration within our communities, by
streamlining the reporting process and creating greater transparency by ensuring
that reports are consistent and easily comprehensible to the public. These process
improvements will not only provide a better understanding of the depth and
breadth of community benefit investments, but also ensure that hospital
partnerships with community organizations are able to maximize scarce resources
and provide programs and services that meet the needs of each community.
Founded in 1970, Venice Family Clinics mission is to provide quality, primary
health care to people in need. We provide comprehensive primary health care
through a broad range of services, including prenatal care, pediatric care, teen
health care, womens health care and adult care, as well as mental health, dental,
health education and health insurance enrollment services. Last year we
provided nearly 93,000 visits to over 20,000 homeless and low-income men,
women, children, teens and seniors who lack private health insurance. Our
network of community partnerships is extensive and includes longstanding
support from area hospitals, including UCLA Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente and Providence Saint Johns Health Center.

We believe that California community benefit organizations are an important part


of Californias health care safety net. Streamlining a redundant and bureaucratic
process will allow a model program to become even better by reducing
administrative expenses and allowing savings to be redirected to successful health
care programs and services.
Today, California is working hard to implement the ACA and ensure greater
access to care for all Californians. AB 1046 is part of the collaborative effort
between the state of California and hospitals to lead and make that goal a reality.
We respectfully urge your support of AB 1046 to create greater transparency and
efficiency to the community benefit reporting process and protect vitally-needed
community benefit services provided by local organizations in collaboration with
local hospitals.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,

Elizabeth Benson Forer, MSW/MPH


Chief Executive Officer
Venice Family Clinic

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