We are a team that celebrates growth and 2024 will be full of it. Across the country, policy leaders and organizations are working on bold programs for people-centered care, holistically addressing individual health and strengthening communities. Here at Intrepid Ascent, the new year started strong with momentum from our current client projects. In 2024, advances in community collaboration will round out a decade of progress as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary! What did we learn from California last year and what does it predict for New York in 2024? Let’s take a closer look.
2023: A Year of Action and Anticipation
In 2023, the bulk of our engagements were in California, given the state’s leadership with Medicaid transformation through CalAIM and with the implementation of a statewide Data Exchange Framework. We are honored to support communities from San Diego in the south to Humboldt in the north as they come together to create and implement shared goals for cross-sector collaboration. Increased focus on health equity and social drivers of health has pushed partners to reimagine the nature of their coalitions and to distribute decision-making through more inclusive governance, workflows, and technology.
At the state level, nearly 3,000 hospitals, clinics, and other provider organizations signed California’s Data Sharing Agreement and will be required to share data with each other as of January 31, 2024. Non-required signatories will follow, from local governments to community-based organizations. This represents a foundational step in collaboration for health in the Golden State. When you add CalAIM to this picture, with over 13 million low-income Californians now eligible for Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports, the momentum for cross-sector collaboration has never been greater.
2024: Community Collaboration Matures, New York State Rises
These trends will converge in 2024 at the community level in California, and we look forward to supporting our clients and their stakeholders in the groundbreaking effort to harness this energy to drive sustainable change.
Meanwhile, New York State’s Medicaid program has now stepped into the limelight with the approval of its 1115 Waiver, which shares California’s goals of enabling health care and community partners to meet the needs of Medicaid enrollees in a holistic manner. When combined with New York’s historically strong network of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), the stage is set for a tremendous year of investment, collaboration, and impact in the Empire State. We are committed to supporting communities across New York as they come together to serve the safety net as never before.
Let’s Create Change Together!
I would like to thank our incredible 2023 clients and partners, we have learned so much from your insights and accomplishments. And we look forward —- with great enthusiasm —- to co-creating vibrant ecosystems for people-centered care in 2024 that serve the most vulnerable with newfound dignity.
—- Mark Elson