Alameda County health officials push provider‑crafted guiding principles to full board

Alameda County’s Health Committee on Dec. 9 advanced to the full Board of Supervisors a recommendation to endorse guiding principles and systemwide priorities developed by the Community Provider Advisory Group (CPAG), officials said.

The CPAG, convened in July as counties prepare for broad changes under CalAIM, produced two deliverables: a set of guiding principles for cross‑sector planning and a set of recommended system priorities, said Anika Choudhury, assistant agency director for Alameda County Health. Choudhury told the committee the group prioritized equitable access, coordinated service delivery, workforce stability and streamlined funding and contracting.

“Equitable access to care is at the top,” Choudhury said, summarizing the CPAG’s work and urging the committee to endorse the principles so staff can proceed with 3–5‑year planning and budget recommendations. The presentation described recurring barriers flagged by providers: antiquated, non‑interoperable data systems; disjointed contracting and reporting requirements; and high administrative burdens that disproportionately affect smaller community‑based organizations.

Representatives from the safety‑net—federally qualified health centers, nonprofit coalitions and managed‑care plans—told the committee CPAG convenings helped surface shared priorities. Andy Martinez Patterson, CEO of the Alameda Health Consortium, said the meetings built alignment around workforce, coordinated delivery and access to care and reinforced health centers’ role as the county’s primary care infrastructure.

“We are all aligned around strengthening workforce, improving access to care, and enhancing coordinated service delivery,” Martinez Patterson said.

Several providers asked the county to address capacity‑building needs so smaller organizations can bill Medi‑Cal and participate in CalAIM programs. Kathy Young of the Tri Valley Nonprofit Alliance highlighted a county grant that supports regional coordination and pilot tools such as a closed‑loop referral platform to reduce duplication.

Supervisors asked staff for concrete follow‑up steps. Committee members sought clarification on whether CPAG’s recommendations would be tied to specific budget proposals and how the county would limit duplicative reporting requirements. Choudhury described models the agency is exploring—county billing on behalf of networks in some program areas and contract redesign to reduce reporting hurdles—and said staff would return with detailed recommendations during next year’s planning cycle.

Supervisor Carson said the convening was a “pivotal and powerful moment” that gave the county a chance to coordinate advocacy at state and federal levels and to avoid duplicative asks to Sacramento and Washington, D.C. With no objections, the committee advanced CPAG’s guiding principles and priorities to the full board for formal action.

The county plan calls for staff to use CPAG input in upcoming work to refresh the Home Together plan, complete Behavioral Health Services Act planning and to align public‑health community health assessments with managed‑care population health efforts. Staff said they will return with specific contract‑redesign and funding strategies, including how to incorporate one‑time and ongoing resources into next year’s MOE (maintenance‑of‑effort) budget requests.

The committee is expected to consider the board‑letter requesting endorsement at its January meeting; if approved by the full board, staff will proceed with the planning and budget steps outlined.

What’s next: Staff will return with targeted recommendations that map CPAG principles to specific budgeting, contracting and technical‑assistance actions and timelines for implementation.