Press Releases

CalOptima Health Board Approves the Acquisition of First-Ever Street Medicine Support Center

Published: September 12, 2023

Garden Grove Facility Represents Key Next Step in the Street Medicine Program

ORANGE, Calif. (September 12, 2023) — CalOptima Health plans to acquire, renovate and open a 52-room Street Medicine Support Center in Garden Grove to house individuals, mainly older adults, who qualify and are referred to this housing by our Street Medicine clinical team. The CalOptima Health Board of Directors approved $18.5 million to directly address the housing crisis for CalOptima Health members experiencing homelessness.

The first-of-its-kind support center is an extension of CalOptima Health’s current Street Medicine Program, which launched on April 1, 2023, in partnership with the City of Garden Grove and Healthcare in Action, an organization of the SCAN Group. Using a medical van equipped with state-of-the-art technology and similar capabilities to a brick-and-mortar clinic, Healthcare in Action’s interdisciplinary teams canvas the Garden Grove community and reach members living in parks, under freeways and other unsheltered spaces. Services include health care, behavioral health, substance use treatment and case management, along with expanded whole-person care resources available through CalAIM, a statewide initiative offering new Medi-Cal benefits, including housing services.

“The goal of our Street Medicine Program is to reduce barriers to quality medical care for CalOptima Health members who are unhoused,” said Kelly Bruno-Nelson, CalOptima Health’s Executive Director of Medi-Cal/CalAIM. “The support center is an innovative next step toward that goal because we recognize that it is ultimately impossible to be healthy on the street.”

Once completed, the Street Medicine Support Center will feature 52 private rooms with a kitchenette and bathroom, shared laundry facilities, staff administrative offices, and outdoor open space. Members using the facility will receive three meals a day and benefit from 24/7 on-site security. Older adults, families and veterans already participating in CalOptima Health’s Street Medicine Program will receive priority placement in the new facility. The target date for opening the center is spring 2025.

These funds are in addition to $8 million allocated by the Board in 2022 for homeless health initiatives that ultimately launched the Street Medicine Program. As Orange County’s Medi-Cal plan serving low-income populations, CalOptima Health is dedicating these funds based on the recognition that housing is health.

Since launching its partnership with CalOptima Health in Garden Grove five months ago, Healthcare in Action has seen approximately 200 individuals experiencing homelessness and has enrolled nearly 100 participants. In addition to receiving basic medical care, dozens of individuals have been evaluated or treated for substance use disorder, opioid use disorder or mental illness.

“Healthcare in Action provides a space for our patients to feel safe, cared for, and above all else, valued,” said Ben Kaska, Healthcare in Action’s Regional Director of Clinical Operations. “We are honored to be able to work with CalOptima Health to expand street medicine with this new support center, which will only add to our ability to provide comprehensive services to the unhoused living in Garden Grove.”

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About CalOptima Health

A county organized health system, CalOptima Health provides publicly funded health care coverage for low-income children, adults, seniors and people with disabilities in Orange County, California. CalOptima Health’s mission is to serve member health with excellence and dignity, respecting the value and needs of each person. CalOptima Health serves nearly 980,000 members with a network of more than 9,900 primary care doctors and specialists and 43 acute and rehab hospitals. For more information, visit caloptima.org.

About Healthcare in Action

Healthcare in Action (HIA) is a medical group that combines care management and housing navigation with “street medicine,” providing health care services to people where they are. To date, HIA’s interdisciplinary mobile teams serve more
than 1,000 patients in six counties across Northern and Southern California. Healthcare in Action was launched in 2022 by the SCAN Group, a mission-driven organization that is tackling some of the biggest issues in health care for older adults. Since 2020, SCAN has launched three mission-aligned medical groups, including Healthcare in Action, Welcome Health and MyPlace Health (a joint venture with CCA), each of which focuses on meeting the needs of older adults. Additionally, in 2022, SCAN acquired The Residentialist Group, now known as HomeBase Medical, to support chronic disease management and palliative care for older adults in the home. SCAN Health Plan, which is part of SCAN Group, is one of the nation’s foremost not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans, serving more than 285,000 members in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas. For more information, visit HealthcareInAction.org and TheSCANGroup.org.

Media Contact

Janis Rizzuto

Director, Communications

jrizzuto@caloptima.org 714-246-8837