Alice Chen, MD
Volunteer Clinical Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

Her career has focused on advancing the health of under-resourced communities through patient care, teaching, policy and leadership across health systems, public health, philanthropy, academia and government. Prior to joining Centene Dr. Chen worked for the State of California, as chief medical officer at Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace, and as deputy secretary for policy and planning at the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS). At Covered California she was responsible for health care strategy focused on quality, equity and delivery system transformation, and was instrumental in driving public purchaser alignment on quality, disparities and investments in primary care. At CHHS she led many of the Agency’s signature health policy initiatives on affordability and access, and played a leadership role in the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the areas of strategic reopening, hospital surge planning, equity, data analytics and therapeutics. She previously served as chief integration officer for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and founding director of the eConsult program before becoming inaugural chief medical officer and deputy director for the San Francisco Health Network, the city’s $2 billion-a-year publicly funded integrated delivery system. A professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) for fifteen years, she has published extensively, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Health Affairs. Dr. Chen has served on the board of several nonprofits and foundations, and currently serves on the Harvard University Board of Overseers. A graduate of Yale University, Stanford University Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Chen's training includes a primary care internal medicine residency and chief residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She is an alumna of the Commonwealth Fund Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Her academic appointments include clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, senior scholar at Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, and affiliate faculty at UCSF’s Institute for Health Policy Studies.

• The Path to Coordinated Federal Leadership to Strengthen Primary Health Care
  Milbank Memorial Fund 2022 Phillips RL, Koller C, Chen AH
• California’s Marketplace Innovations: Driving Health Plan Accountability For Quality And Equity
  Health Affairs Forefront 2022 Chen AH, Lee P.
• To Advance A National Health And Equity Infrastructure, Measure Drivers of Health
  Health Affairs Forefront 2022 Agrawal S, Chen AH, Price G, Perla R.
• Equity Metrics: Toward A More Effective And Inclusive Pandemic Response
  Health Affairs Blog 2021 Shete PB, Vargo J, Chen AH, Bibbins-Domingo K
• Last-Mile Logistics of Covid Vaccination - The Role of Health Care Organizations.
  The New England journal of medicine 2021 Lee TH, Chen AH
• Emergency use authorization for COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies: challenges and lessons learned
  Health Affairs Blog 2020 DeJong C, Lo B, Chen AH
• Beyond Survival To Transformation: Investing In Safety-Net Innovation To Address The Impacts Of COVID-19
  Health Affairs Blog 2020 Sarkar U, Chen AH
• An Ethical Framework for Allocating Scarce Inpatient Medications for COVID-19 in the US.
  JAMA 2020 DeJong C, Chen AH, Lo B
• Frequent Emergency Department Users: Focusing Solely On Medical Utilization Misses The Whole Person.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2019 Kanzaria HK, Niedzwiecki M, Cawley CL, Chapman C, Sabbagh SH, Riggs E, Chen AH, Martinez MX, Raven MC
• Evaluating diverse electronic consultation programs with a common framework.
  BMC health services research 2018 Tuot DS, Liddy C, Vimalananda VG, Pecina J, Murphy EJ, Keely E, Simon SR, North F, Orlander JD, Chen AH
• A cohort study of a general surgery electronic consultation system: safety implications and impact on surgical yield.
  BMC health services research 2017 Ulloa JG, Russell MD, Chen AH, Tuot DS
• Specialty Care Access in the Safety Net-the Role of Public Hospitals and Health Systems.
  Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2017 Makaroun LK, Bowman C, Duan K, Handley N, Wheeler DJ, Pierluissi E, Chen AH
• Out-of-Network Emergency Department Use among Managed Medicaid Beneficiaries.
  Health services research 2016 Raven MC, Guzman D, Chen AH, Kornak J, Kushel M
• Minding the Gaps: Assessing Communication Outcomes of Electronic Preconsultation Exchange.
  Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2016 Price EL, Sewell JL, Chen AH, Sarkar U
• Displaying radiation exposure and cost information at order entry for outpatient diagnostic imaging: a strategy to inform clinician ordering.
  BMJ quality & safety 2016 Kruger JF, Chen AH, Rybkin A, Leeds K, Guzman D, Vittinghoff E, Goldman LE
• Facilitators and barriers to implementing electronic referral and/or consultation systems: a qualitative study of 16 health organizations.
  BMC health services research 2015 Tuot DS, Leeds K, Murphy EJ, Sarkar U, Lyles CR, Mekonnen T, Chen AH
• Efficiency Gains for Rheumatology Consultation Using a Novel Electronic Referral System in a Safety-Net Health Setting.
  Arthritis care & research 2015 Scheibe MM, Imboden JB, Schmajuk G, Margaretten M, Graf JD, Chen AH, Yelin EH, Yazdany J
• Leveraging an electronic referral system to build a medical neighborhood.
  Healthcare (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2015 Tuot DS, Murphy EJ, McCulloch CE, Leeds K, Chan E, Chen AH
• Changes in research on language barriers in health care since 2003: A cross-sectional review study.
  International journal of nursing studies 2015 Schwei RJ, Del Pozo S, Agger-Gupta N, Alvarado-Little W, Bagchi A, Chen AH, Diamond L, Gany F, Wong D, Jacobs EA
• Electronic Preconsultation as a Method of Quality Improvement for Urological Referrals
  Urology Practice 2014 McGeady JB, Blaschko SD, Brajtbord JS, Sewell JL, Chen AH, Breyer BN
• Assessment of HBV preventive services in a medically underserved Asian and Pacific Islander population using provider and patient data.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2014 Mukhtar NA, Toy BC, Burman BE, Yu A, Chen AH, Berman P, Nguyen T, Chan D, Hammer H, McCulloch CE, Khalili M
• Increasing access to specialty care: patient discharges from a gastroenterology clinic.
  The American journal of managed care 2014 Tuot DS, Sewell JL, Day L, Leeds K, Chen AH
• Electronic Preconsultation as a Method of Quality Improvement for Urological Referrals.
  Urology practice 2014 McGeady JB, Blaschko SD, Brajtbord JS, Sewell JL, Chen AH, Breyer BN
• "Choosing wisely" in an academic department of medicine.
  American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality 2014 Hines JZ, Sewell JL, Sehgal NL, Moriates C, Horton CK, Chen AH
• A randomized, controlled trial to increase discussion of breast cancer in primary care.
  Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology 2014 Kaplan CP, Livaudais-Toman J, Tice JA, Kerlikowske K, Gregorich SE, Pérez-Stable EJ, Pasick RJ, Chen A, Quinn J, Karliner LS
• Clinician perspectives on considering radiation exposure to patients when ordering imaging tests: a qualitative study.
  BMJ quality & safety 2014 Kruger JF, Chen AH, Rybkin A, Leeds K, Frosch DL, Goldman LE
• Expanding the Universal Medication Schedule: a patient-centred approach.
  BMJ open 2014 Bailey SC, Wolf MS, Lopez A, Russell A, Chen AH, Schillinger D, Moy G, Sarkar U
• Clinicians' views on displaying cost information to increase clinician cost-consciousness.
  The American journal of managed care 2014 Kruger JF, Chen AH, Rybkin A, Leeds K, Frosch DL, Goldman E
• Hepatitis B management in vulnerable populations: gaps in disease monitoring and opportunities for improved care.
  Digestive diseases and sciences 2013 Burman BE, Mukhtar NA, Toy BC, Nguyen TT, Chen AH, Yu A, Berman P, Hammer H, Chan D, McCulloch CE, Khalili M
• A brief, low-cost intervention improves the quality of ambulatory gastroenterology consultation notes.
  The American journal of medicine 2013 Sewell JL, Day LW, Tuot DS, Alvarez R, Yu A, Chen AH
• Preconsultation exchange for ambulatory hepatology consultations.
  The American journal of medicine 2013 Sewell JL, Guy J, Kwon A, Chen AH, Yee HF
• Setting clinical priorities: a framework for incorporating individual patient preferences.
  Patient education and counseling 2012 Dowdy D, Bishai D, Chen AH
• The un-managed system of Medicare referrals.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2012 Chen AH, Rittenhouse D
• Evaluation of language concordant, patient-centered drug label instructions.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2012 Bailey SC, Sarkar U, Chen AH, Schillinger D, Wolf MS
• Foreign language assessment and training in U.S. medical education is a must.
  Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2012 Tucker JD, Chen AH, Glass RI
• Developing multilingual prescription instructions for patients with limited english proficiency.
  Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2012 Bailey SC, Hasnain-Wynia R, Chen AH, Sarkar U, Schoua-Glusberg A, Lindquist LA, Schillinger D, Wolf MS
• Implementation of an electronic referral system for outpatient specialty care.
  AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium 2011 Straus SG, Chen AH, Yee H, Kushel MB, Bell DS
• Patient Follow-up in an Urban Resident Continuity Clinic: An Initiative to Improve Scheduling Practices.
  Journal of graduate medical education 2011 Dowdy DW, Horton CK, Lau B, Ferrer R, Chen AH
• Improving primary care-specialty care communication: lessons from San Francisco's safety net: comment on "Referral and consultation communication between primary care and specialist physicians".
  Archives of internal medicine 2011 Chen AH, Yee HF
• Evaluating electronic referrals for specialty care at a public hospital.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2010 Kim-Hwang JE, Chen AH, Bell DS, Guzman D, Yee HF, Kushel MB
• Practice profile. A safety-net system gains efficiencies through 'eReferrals' to specialists.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2010 Chen AH, Kushel MB, Grumbach K, Yee HF
• Improving the primary care-specialty care interface: getting from here to there.
  Archives of internal medicine 2009 Chen AH, Yee HF
• Not perfect, but better: primary care providers' experiences with electronic referrals in a safety net health system.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2009 Kim Y, Chen AH, Keith E, Yee HF, Kushel MB
• The legal framework for language access in healthcare settings: Title VI and beyond.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2007 Chen AH, Youdelman MK, Brooks J
• Do professional interpreters improve clinical care for patients with limited English proficiency? A systematic review of the literature.
  Health services research 2007 Karliner LS, Jacobs EA, Chen AH, Mutha S
• Providing care to patients who speak limited English
  Medical Management of Vulnerable and Underserved Patients: Principles, Practice, and Populations. Editors: Talmadge King, Margaret Wheeler, Andy Bindman, Alicia Fernandez, Kevin Grumbach, Dean Schillinger, and Teresa Villela 2007 Chen AH, Jacobs E
• Insights into the problems that language barriers may pose for the medical interview.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2006 Hardt E, Jacobs EA, Chen A
• Effect of awareness of language law on language access in the health care setting.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2006 Grubbs V, Chen AH, Bindman AB, Vittinghoff E, Fernandez A
• Case studies in multicultural medicine and health disparities
  Multicultural Medicine and Health Disparities. Editors: David Satcher and Rubens Pamies 2006 Smith WR, Bussey-Jones J, Horowitz CR, Whitehurst-Cook M, Chen, AH
• The need for more research on language barriers in health care: a proposed research agenda.
  The Milbank quarterly 2006 Jacobs E, Chen AH, Karliner LS, Agger-Gupta N, Mutha S
• Effects of limited English proficiency and physician language on health care comprehension.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2005 Wilson E, Chen AH, Grumbach K, Wang F, Fernandez A
• Legal and regulatory obligations to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate emergency department services
  Clin Ped Emerg Med 2004 Jacobs EA, Chen AH, Karliner L, Fortier JP, Mutha S
• Literacy and language: disentangling measures of access, utilization, and quality.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2004 Schillinger D, Chen AH
• Reasons for outpatient referrals from generalists to specialists.
  Journal of general internal medicine 1999 Donohoe MT, Kravitz RL, Wheeler DB, Chandra R, Chen A, Humphries N
• Airway reactivity in welders: a controlled prospective cohort study.
  Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 1996 Beckett WS, Pace PE, Sferlazza SJ, Perlman GD, Chen AH, Xu XP
• Gender-associated differences in emergency department pain management.
  Annals of emergency medicine 1995 Raftery KA, Smith-Coggins R, Chen AH