The Fresno region, which includes Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Kings and Tulare counties, needs to do more to prepare for the large increase in patients who will have health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to a team of researchers from the Center for Studying Health System Change. Researchers interviewed health care leaders in the Fresno region, some of whom met at a forum in Fresno last week to discuss the results of the study and to make recommendations for change. The Fresno area has challenges specific to the region it encompasses a large geographic region –16,000 square miles — that is rural and remote in some areas. It’s also impoverished and has a seasonal agricultural economy according to a recent report at California Healthline.
