Advancing Equity-Centered Primary Care Through Practice Transformation
TOPLINES
To achieve equitable, patient-centered care, improvement must start with those closest to the work—patients, communities and frontline teams. Through the Equity and Quality at Independent Practices in Los Angeles County initiative, the California Quality Collaborative (CQC) supported 31 independent practices in designing and implementing quality improvement (QI) interventions rooted in lived experience and social context.
Source: Equity and Quality at Independent Practices in LA (EQuIP-LA): Final Evaluation Report, Center for Community Health and Evaluation, 2025
EQuIP-LA’s community- driven approach resulted in significant improvements in key quality indicators related to diabetes, hypertension and colorectal cancer. Thirty of the participating practices achieved improvement on at least one of three initiative metrics, with collective improvement ranging from 7-13%. CQC shared more about EQuIP-LA’s impact during an August 2025 webinar.
The following implementation spotlights highlight real-world examples and practical tools from participating practices, demonstrating how equity-centered improvement can take shape across California’s primary care landscape.
Approaches to Designing Equity-Centered Quality Improvement Projects
Equity-centered QI intentionally prioritizes eliminating disparities experienced by marginalized and underserved communities.
This spotlight outlines key approaches to embedding equity into QI design and implementation, with practical examples from participating practices working to advance equitable care across Los Angeles County.
Empowering Change: The Role of Community-Based Coaching in Health Care Transformation
Practice coaching plays a vital role in helping teams adopt evidence-based models and achieve sustained improvement.
This spotlight explores how community-based coaching supports transformation at the local level—highlighting how program coaches helped participating practices build capacity for change and strengthen equity-focused care.
Strengthening the Primary Care Workforce: Embedding Community Health Workers Within Care Teams
Community health workers (CHWs) bridge the gap between clinical care and the communities they serve, improving access and trust.
This spotlight features Reddy Care Medical, a small independent practice that integrated CHWs into its primary care team. It offers a model for training and implementing CHWs to enhance engagement, coordination and equity in care delivery.
Partnering with Patients in Equity-Centered Quality Improvement
Engaging patients as partners in QI is essential to creating care that reflects the realities of those it serves.
This spotlight showcases strategies such as listening sessions and co-design workshops that empower patients to shape interventions and drive equity-centered change within primary care practices.
Practice and Patient Perspectives
Behind every quality improvement effort are the voices of those transforming care on the ground. Through the stories below, providers and patients share how EQuIP-LA strengthened their ability to deliver and advocate for more equitable, person-centered care.
• Reddy Care Medical and Tweedy Medical Group share how their teams improved coordination, addressed disparities and advanced more responsive care.
• Michelle Rosser offers a patient perspective that reinforces why experience and communication matter in shaping trust, follow-up and better outcomes.
By centering equity, community engagement and collaboration, CQC continues to demonstrate how independent practices can lead the way in advancing equitable, high-quality care across California.
Learn more about CQC’s health equity work and EQuIP-LA.
