Blue Shield of California Foundation Awards $7.6 million to Ensure Health & Safety for Vulnerable Californians

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California Foundation announced today $7.6 million in fourth-quarter grantmaking, raising its 2015 year-to-date investment to nearly $30.8 million to improve the quality of healthcare and domestic violence services for the most vulnerable Californians. The awards are the latest in the Foundation's ongoing commitment to California's healthcare and domestic violence "safety net," with more than $340 million in total giving since 2002.

"Promoting value-based care in the safety net remains our top priority for 2016," said Peter Long, PhD, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California Foundation. He added that a key focus will be supporting the development of better programs to combat substance abuse and domestic violence in California, and "spreading and scaling the most promising practices and innovations."

Central to the goals the Foundation aims to achieve, Long said, is involving patients, families, and communities in the effort to build stronger systems of culturally-responsive care and support for those most in need. Notable grantees include:

• California Pan-Ethnic Health Network in Oakland received more than $420,000 to make vulnerable communities aware of the opportunity to expand substance use treatment services through California's new Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS) waiver, and ensure they have a voice in the way these new services are designed and delivered.
• California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions of Sacramento received nearly $400,000 to develop a statewide learning collaborative that will serve as a hub for counties to learn from one another as they develop and operationalize their implementation plans for the DMC-ODS waiver.
• Center for Vulnerable Populations at University of California, San Francisco received $350,000 for a study on how to spread and standardize new technologies and approaches in the healthcare safety net and create a collective framework for scalable innovation.

A complete list of the Q4 awards can be found here.

About Blue Shield of California Foundation
Blue Shield of California Foundation is one of the state's largest and most trusted grantmaking organizations. Our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians, particularly the underserved, by making health care accessible, effective, and affordable, and by ending domestic violence. For more information visit: www.blueshieldcafoundation.org.  

SOURCE Blue Shield of California Foundation

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