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,