The Center for Care Innovations Announces CALQIC Grantees

CALQIC Announces Grantees for its ACEs Learning and Quality Improvement Collaborative for 2020-2021

The Center for Care Innovations (CCI) and its partners have announced grant recipients for the California ACEs Learning and Quality Improvement Collaborative (CALQIC).

Led by the UCSF Center to Advance Trauma-Informed HealthCare, in partnership with CCI, the California Office of the Surgeon General, and the Rand Corporation, CALQIC is the learning and quality improvement arm of ACES Aware, the initiative led by the Office of the California Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services to give Medi-Cal providers training, clinical protocols, and payment for screening children and adults for ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences). CALQIC will identify promising practices, tools, resources, and partnerships that will inform future phases of the ACEs Aware initiative.

“The goal of CALQIC is to integrate screening and response for ACEs in healthcare settings in a way that enhances connection between patients and providers, helps connect patients to services that want and need, and leads to better outcomes, reduced disparities, and more positive experiences of care for all involved,” said Edward Machtinger, MD, CALQIC co-director.

The clinics that received grants to participate in the program were:

• Borrego Community Health Foundation (San Diego)
• Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center (Los Angeles)
• Family Health Centers of San Diego (San Diego)
• Harmony Health Medical Clinic and Family Resource Center (Marysville, CA)
• La Clinica del la Raza Inc. (Oakland) • LA County Department of Health Services (Los Angeles)
• Long Valley Health Center (Laytonville, CA)
• Los Angeles Christian Health Centers (Los Angeles, CA)
• Marion Community Clinics (Novato)
• Northeast Valley Health Corporations (San Fernando)
• Petaluma Health Center (Petaluma)
• Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (Santa Barbara)
• Santa Rosa Community Health (Santa Rosa)
• Sonoma County Indian Health Project (Santa Rosa)
• The Regents of the University of California San Francisco (Fresno)

The learning collaborative will run for 15-18 months, from July 1, 2020 to October 31, 2021.

California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris has called ACEs “a public health crisis hiding in plain sight,” noting that it is at the root of many of the most harmful health challenges facing Californians. Without help from a supportive adult, researchers have found, ACEs and toxic stress can change children’s brains and bodies, disrupt learning and children’s hormonal and immune systems, and dramatically increase their risk of developing life-threatening diseases as adults. A recent study estimated that ACEs cost California an estimated 113 billion dollars a year, which, unchecked, would cost the state a trillion dollars over the next decade.

California is the first state to roll out ACEs screening statewide, and the applications to CALQIC reflect strong interest in the initiative. “The applications to CALQIC were so compelling that we regret were not able to accept all of them,” said Megan O’Brien, a senior program manager at CCI who is overseeing the organization’s work on CALQIC. “We also know that in the face of this unprecedented COVID-19 public health crisis, organizations will need to be trauma-and-resilience informed to best address burnout and toxic stress impacting both staff and patients. We are both honored and excited about working on this initiative and look forward to making our findings available to all clinics in California.”