Community Health Care Assessments

San Diego County Healthcare Safety Net Study

After a competitive process, The Abaris Group was selected to conduct a health care Safety Net study for San Diego County, the largest ever conducted in the country. The Abaris Group completed a long-range needs assessment of the healthcare safety net serving San Diego county residents including hospital inpatient, hospital outpatient, emergency, trauma, primary and specialty care and physician needs as well as an assessment of funding needs for those services for the San Diego region over the next 20 years. Findings were presented regarding the long-range needs assessment of the County. The focus for this assessment was on estimating the service and funding needs (demand) and on identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges to meet those needs.

The analysis and recommendation work required for this project was conducted in two phases. Phase One will began with a detailed meeting with the County and the project workgroup to fine tune the work plan, identify the key stakeholders and data sources and recommended sites for interviews and site visits. Extensive background research was also completed early in this phase. The phase continued with onsite interviews, focus groups, site visits to healthcare facilities, and completing data analysis.

Upon conclusion, a comprehensive report was prepared and forwarded to the County and key stakeholders. Phase II began a process of completing Town Hall meetings and a consensus process with key safety net stakeholders. This phase was concluded with the preparation of a report detailing the stakeholders input and the final proposed plan of action. Over 260 interviews and 45 town hall meetings were conducted during the six month term of this project.