San Francisco’s Carbon Health has been expanding its SoCal presence in more ways than one, according to the company.The health care group in February opened its latest Valley location in the NoHo West shopping center in North Hollywood, among other “pop-up” locations in Central Los Angeles, while also partnering with the city of Los Angeles to help alleviate logistics headaches for mass distribution sites of the vaccine.The clinic, located at 6160 Laurel Canyon Blvd., will initially focus on urgent care and COVID-19 testing before transitioning to a full-service primary care facility. Carbon Health now has two locations in the Valley; the first clinic opened in December for Simi Valley residents.“A lot of what informs where we establish our clinics, we see them really as access points, based on where there is more need. We felt that North Hollywood was a community that needed more and better access,” said Dr. Sujal Mandavia, chief medical officer of Carbon Health. “Our clinics are approved to be vaccine distribution clinics, but right now supply is not really allowing for those clinics to be activated in that way.”In the meantime, Carbon has partnered with the city to use its software platform at mass vaccination sites such as Dodger Stadium.Added Mandavia: “We’re pretty fortunate and uniquely positioned, being at the intersection of technology, being a medical group, and doing these large operations. Having all that experience we’re able to distill something down and make it very focused so that it has as few unnecessary steps as possible for everybody.”Carbon’s software makes sure only qualified people get appointments, and that supply and staff are actually on site when people show up for their appointment.A feedback mechanism allows staff to respond to issues in real time, Mandavia added, taking into account supply for the day, staffing and appointment no-shows.“Where I think things were overlooked was the last mile of what’s needed to effectively get those vaccines in people’s arms. There’s a lot of heavy logistical lift and support that was needed, that nobody had,” explained Mandavia. “We want as many vaccinations as possible in a day with minimal to zero wastage.”Looking ahead, Carbon plans to establish four to five more brick-and-mortar clinics in the Valley within a matter of months. More would have opened at this point, Mandavia said, if it wasn’t for halted operations at the beginning of last year.Meanwhile, trucks and converted trailers as temporary structures have filled in the gaps, allowing Carbon to set up shop within six weeks, from conception to turning the lights on.Brick-and-mortar locations, by contrast, take six to 12 months to build or convert, Mandavia said.
