Office of Health Care Affordability

OHCA, established in 2022, will profoundly shape health care in California. Its legislated goals are to slow health care spending growth, promote high-value system performance, and assess market consolidation. CHA is actively engaged in the implementation process, advocating to improve affordability for patients while ensuring hospitals are able to make much-needed investments to improve access, quality, and equity.

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Advocacy

In addition to in-person advocacy at OHCA meetings, CHA has submitted the following comment letters.

OHCA must plan for the health care system Californians need and deserve. California’s health care system provides world-leading, life-saving care to millions of patients every year. A poorly considered, hastily developed spending growth target would have dire consequences for millions.”

CHA letter on spending target proposal – March 8, 2024

Read the full letter

OHCA risks developing a methodology that fails to appropriately capture the full realities and complexities of how hospitals fund the care they provide to California’s patients. 

CHA letter to OHCA Board Chair Dr. Mark Ghaly – February 22, 2024

Read the full letter

Previous Letters


Resources

Senate Bill 184, part of the 2022-23 state budget package, established the Office of Health Care Affordability within the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI). The office’s objectives and responsibilities are to:

Jurisdiction. The office’s authority extends to payers, such as health plans and public health care coverage programs; providers, including hospitals and physician groups; and fully-integrated delivery systems.

Governance. OHCA is housed within the Department of Health Care Access and Information and is overseen by an eight-member board with input from an advisory committee.

See OHCA’s website for links to public meetings, laws and regulations, and additional information.

Implementation of the office will occur gradually over the next several years:

The office’s work coincides with a period of unparalleled financial distress for hospitals. Rising costs, — including expenses for workforce and other needs, along with state-mandated capital improvement projects — mean that hundreds of California’s hospitals are operating with negative margins, losing money every day to care for patients.


Education

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