Ventura County is home to lush agricultural zones, eclectic coastal communities, mountainous rural neighborhoods and an active naval base. These features have attracted tens of thousands of farm workers and migrant families, as well as higher-income professionals who congregate alongside the county’s affluent eastern and coastal borders.

“Our county's demographic and geographic diversity presents both opportunities and challenges in health care delivery,” says Seleta Dobrosky, Director of Public Health Nursing and chair for the Ventura County Community Health Improvement Collaborative (VCCHIC). “Health priorities span across a wide range from mental health and substance use to chronic disease prevention. Core to all these priorities’ success is the critical need for more equitable access to health care.”

To address this need, local health care organizations, providers, government agencies and community-based organizations (CBOs) representing underserved communities came together to form the Ventura County Community Health Improvement Collaborative (VCCHIC) in 2016. Following the county’s Community Health Needs Assessment in 2022, VCCHIC became an Accountable Community for Health (ACH) in partnership with the California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI)—with Communities Lifting Communities (CLC) serving as the ACH’s backbone organization. CLC is an affiliate 501(c)3 of the Health Association of Southern California (HASC).

VCCHIC convenes multi-sector partners to improve population health outcomes and develop a collaborative Population Health Management (PHM) strategy that serves as the essential implementation framework of the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative. This effort will enhance access to primary, prenatal and postnatal care services, restructure the health plan’s financial models, and work to incentivize patients and providers to expand opportunities for access to clinical visits and preventative screenings.

The ACH will also develop community wellness and prevention programs that address the needs of its highest-risk community members—including members of low-income, migrant, LGBTQIA+, Latinx and Black communities. Crucially, residents will be central in the decision-making processes to ensure these efforts are successful.   

"The ACH model allows us to align resources and tailor efforts across sectors to best meet residents’ needs," explains Susan Harrington, president of Communities Lifting Communities. “By bringing together diverse partners and centering community voices, we're better positioned to overcome stubborn barriers to equity and create systemic changes that will have lasting health benefits for residents throughout our county.” 

As Ventura County’s ACH moves forward, it aims to strengthen community engagement, develop sustainable funding mechanisms and further advance equity in all its efforts. By leveraging the collective impact of its partners and aligning with state initiatives like CalAIM, the ACH is poised to make significant strides toward improving health outcomes and reducing disparities across Ventura County.

For more information, visit communities.hasc.org.