California Street Medicine Collaborative

Uniting Stakeholders to Enhance Homeless Healthcare

Solidarity with the people we serve experiencing homelessness is foundational to street medicine and so is solidarity with the people we share the work. USC Street Medicine hosts the California Street Medicine Collaborative which brings together street medicine providers, managed care organizations, professional associations and other stakeholders shaping policy in co-design with plans and providers, provide ongoing technical assistance to the group and individual members, education, and program development. The goal is to keep the values and philosophy of street medicine in tact while it’s being incorporated into traditional healthcare and scaled.

Highlights include:

• 130+ organizational members across the state
• Monthly meetings to convene member programs to improve the rollout state-sponsored programs such as CalAim
• Address implementation challenges facing members with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to find patient-centered solutions.
• Help plans and programs with the implementation of DHCS programs applied to their unique organization.
• Host regional meetings held quarterly with plans and providers to foster ongoing communication and collaboration locally.
• Host a monthly Clinicians Learning Circle for members, open to the public, on clinical topics of street medicine. Past topic examples include substance use disorders and suboxone on the street and addressing psychiatric conditions in the street medicine setting.
• The publication of memos drafted with the input of health plans and providers addressing current unresolved issues impacting street medicine practice. Recent memos include Street Medicine Place of Service Codes and the need for a unique code to facilitate contracting between plans and providers to allow for Direct Access, and Street Medicine’s Role in Behavioral Health Treatment, designed to encourage the use of street medicine to expand the psychiatric workforce given the severe shortage.

The California Street Medicine Collaborative has played a roll in the growth of street medicine throughout the state, witnessing the number of programs grow from 26 to 49 programs between August 2022 and August 2023. Despite this growth, the need of the people we serve is still not being met, and we continue to welcome new members to the Collaborative!

Get Involved

To learn more about joining the California Street Medicine Collaborative please contact Brett Feldman (brett.feldman@med.usc.edu) of USC Street Medicine.