Spotlight Series: Dr. Karen Mark

Become ACEs Aware and Join the Movement to Screen. Treat. Heal.

Dr. Karen Mark, Medical Director of the California Department of Health Care Services, talks about the importance of ACE screening.

A transformative movement is underway in California, and I am honored to help lead the effort to make everyone ACEs Aware. The California Department of Health Care Services, in partnership with the Office of the California Surgeon General, is leading the ACEs Aware initiative, a first in the nation statewide effort to pay Medi-Cal providers for screening their patients for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) so they can provide them with trauma-informed care. The initiative seeks to address the public health crisis of toxic stress resulting from ACEs, a crisis that has, until recently, been largely unrecognized by our health care system.

ACEs are stressful or traumatic experiences people have by age 18 that were identified in the landmark ACEs Study. They relate to 10 categories of adversities in three domains: abuse, neglect, and/or household dysfunction. ACEs can result in toxic stress, which is linked to ACE-Associated Health Conditions, including asthma, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, depression, substance use, and more. These conditions include nine out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the United States and cause some of most harmful, persistent, and expensive health challenges facing our state and nation.

Unfortunately, ACEs are common throughout California. By offering providers training and payment to screen patients for ACEs, we open the door to conversations that are important to improving health by providing trauma-informed, patient-centered care.

“Through the ACEs Aware initiative, California is once again leading the nation in providing innovative, forward-thinking health care.”

Starting January 1, 2020, Medi-Cal providers can receive a $29 payment for each qualifying ACEs screening. A free, two-hour online training in ACEs screening is currently available and, starting July 1, 2020, must be completed in order for providers to continue to receive payment for qualifying ACEs screenings. I encourage all providers to take this training and integrate ACEs screening into their clinical protocols. By doing so, they can better connect with and get a broader understanding of the context of patients’ lives – their history and experiences – which allows them to work together with patients to help improve patient health.

Through the ACEs Aware initiative, California is once again leading the nation in providing innovative, forward-thinking health care. Visit www.AcesAware.org to take the training, learn more about this transformational effort to address the public health crisis of ACEs and toxic stress, and join us as we work to strengthen California’s families and communities.

Watch the video below to hear more from Dr. Karen Mark, Medical Director of the California Department of Health Care Services.

Follow the ACEs Aware initiative on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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    1. The PEARLS Tool. The PEARLS tool is a unique tool that assess for both Adverse Childhood Experiences (“ACEs”) such as abuse, neglect, and household challenges, and related events, such as discrimination, food insecurity, and community violence, thought to be risk factors for toxic stress. The PEARLS tool was made in the course of research under the auspices of the Children’s Hospital Research Center at Oakland (“BCHO”) and the University of California, San Francisco. BCHO has licensed the PEARLS tool to DHCS and provided DHCS with the right to sublicense the PEARLS tool.
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