History
OPA's statutory charge (as of July 1, 2014) is to coordinate, provide assistance to, and collect data from state health care consumer assistance call centers. The goal of these efforts is to better enable health care consumers to access the health care services for which they are eligible.
Specialties
The Office of the Patient Advocate's mission is to improve California health care quality and advocate for consumer interests by publicly reporting data for informed decision making. OPA is charged with producing: Health Care Quality Report Cards with clinical performance and patient experience data for the state's largest health plans and over 200 medical groups. These entities are responsible for providing health care services to more than 16 million Californians. Complaint Data Reports and Baseline Review of State Consumer Assistance Call Centers with data findings based on health care consumer complaint data and call center information submitted to OPA from the Department of Managed Health Care, Department of Insurance, Department of Health Care Services, and Covered California. Model Protocols for State Consumer Assistance Call Centers with recommendations for responding to and referring calls outside of a call center's jurisdiction.