Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP)

Whole Person Care-Los Angeles Research Evaluation

UCLA

Above: Whole Person Care Research Evaluation Retreat 2019.

Whole Person Care-Los Angeles (WPC–LA) - WPC–LA brings together health and social service agencies to coordinate care for LA County’s most vulnerable Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Through 16 programs delivered across Los Angeles County, WPC-LA serves six high-risk populations: people experiencing homelessness, justice involvement, barriers to a healthy pregnancy, serious mental illness, substance use disorder, and complex health conditions.

WPC-LA stakeholders help clients navigate the many health and social systems and connect them to medical care, housing, transportation, food, and other services.

UCLA’s Community Engagement and Research Program are leading a mixed-methods research evaluation of WPC-LA to identify successes and challenges, implementation, and impact. The primary research evaluation activities include:

Surveying WPC-LA clients to measure the quality of care received
Interviewing Community Health Workers and patient navigators to measure the impact of WPC-LA on their professional, personal development, social networks and recommendations for further impact within their role
Interviewing stakeholders at WPC-LA contracted Community Based Organizations to collect data on organizational goals, the types of clients served, how services are provided, service networks, and partnership effectiveness within WPC-LA for improved service integration
Analyzing data on the impact of programs on health care use (hospitalizations, primary care visits, etc.) and health conditions by WPC-LA clients
Assessing the utility of a recovery measure to measure the impact of WPC-LA on beneficiaries’ mental and emotional health

For more information, see the WPC-LA Impact Report released in 2022.