CCHP CEO Larry Loo proudly serves the health care community where he was born

(SAN FRANCISCO) Larry Loo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chinese Community Health Plan (CCHP), has emerged as a new leader of the health care community since 2022 in San Francisco Chinatown where he was born and calls home with roots.

Loo has been a leader in the healthcare industry for decades specializing in public health research and health plans. He first joined CCHP in 2009 as Chief Operating officer (COO) for 10 years and left in 2019.

In early 2022, Loo returned to CCHP and was named as its CEO to lead a health plan with over 120 employees.

CCHP is a health plan entity under Chinese Hospital. In total, CCHP and Chinese Hospital have over 460 employees and become the largest employer in San Francisco Chinatown.

As 2024 annual Medicare open enrollment starts on October 15 and

Covered California on November 1, Loo is eager to let the community know the uniqueness of the CCHP health plan for members of the Chinese community in San Francisco and Northern cities of San Mateo County.

"We have been the only health plan especially for the Chinese community selected by the Covered CA on the health insurance exchange,” said Loo in an interview with Wind Newspaper at CCHP's headquarters in Chinatown at 455 Grant Avenue Medical Office building. “Only San Francisco Chinatown has its hospital to serve the community. New York and Los Angeles Chinatowns do not have their own hospitals."

Like many U.S.-born Chinese Americans, Loo has moved his homes many times around the nation for his college education and career. In 2009 after two decades of working in different regions, he decided to come back to San Francisco and work at CCHP.

Loo was one of the six children of his parents from Hong Kong. His parents immigrated to San Francisco for the better lives of their children. Loo was the first child of his parents born in the United States and in the Chinese Hospital of Chinatown.

Loo's parents first settled down in the North Beach where Loo spent his childhood days and went to Nam Kue School on Sacramento Street in Chinatown for studying Chinese. He remembered he was always playing volleyball in Chinatown's playground in his young years. His parents later moved to Richmond District and have resided there since then.

After graduating from Lowell High School, Loo left San Francisco for the East Coast to study at Cornell University and majored in Nutritional Biochemistry. Loo had an interest in being a physician. But he was rejected in his applications to medical schools. Then he moved on to pursue a Master's Degree at Columbia University in Public Health with a specialization in Health Policy and Management.

Loo has been very much interested in doing research in health related issues including health plans and the health care system. He had worked at a number of the major corporations to understand the complexities of the health care system in the country.

With experience serving at the management levels in corporations, Loo decided to come home to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2009.

Once he moved back to the Bay Area, Loo was contacted by a headhunter to see if he was interested in joining CCHP. He felt that it was time for him to serve the community where he was born and raised.

CCHP was founded by the Chinese Community Health Care Association (CCHCA) 's Chinese American physicians in 1986 to serve the Chinese community whose members had been often denied coverage by the mainstream health insurance companies.

The three components of the so-called Chinese Community Healthcare Iron Triangle were Chinese Hospital, CCHP Health Plan and CCHCA which represents physicians. It was a successful model and had gained national recognition. Under the triangle model, three parties equally shared their gains and losses in operations.

In 2012, CCHP was selected as one of the health plans in the Covered California health insurance marketplace. CCHP's membership also started skyrocketing. A new collaboration between three parties was introduced that led to a lawsuit filed by the CCHCA physicians in 2016 to fight against the new system.

As a result of the disputes and the lawsuit, All American Medical Group (AAMG) and Jade Medical Groups were subsequently and respectively established by the CCHCA physicians and the physicians in support of Chinese Hospital and CCHP.

After 7-year legal battles and negotiations, three health care organizations, Chinese Hospital, CCHP, and CCHCA, announced in August 2022 their historic reunion for working together for the community.

In October 2022, three Chinese medical groups in San Francisco, Jade, AAMG and Access, announced the acquisition by Southern California-based Apollo Medical

Holdings, Inc. (ApolloMed).

The 7-year disputes have also hurt all three parties' businesses. The numbers of the Chinese Hospital's patients and CCHP's members have been dramatically down.

Loo left CCHP in 2019 and became a consultant. He had worked as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the San Francisco Health Services System until he returned to CCHP as its CEO.

Loo admitted that it would not be an easy job to head the CCHP. He has decided to take the job as a commitment to serving the community where he was born with roots. "We have a hospital there to see our patients. It is very important for San Francisco to have the Chinese Hospital," said Loo.

"CCHP is vital to the Chinese community. As I said, I was born here. Can I help the system? Yes. They need someone to fix a lot of issues. There is a lot of work to do..." Loo said.

Big health insurance companies like Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross Blue Shield of California, have moved their regional headquarters to Oakland. "We (CCHP) are here. We are not leaving. We are serving the community here.," Loo said.

"99% of our members are from the Chinese community. We provide the service in our languages and culture to make them feel more comfortable," Loo continued. "You can find the emergency room service in the Chinese Hospital when you need it 24 hours a day without delays. Patients need to wait for a significant time when they arrive at the emergency rooms in other hospitals."

Although there was a reunion announced in August 2022, Loo said AAMG as a medical group has not yet joined the CCHP Health Plan, Jade and Access groups already did.

Loo wanted to remind the Chinese community that physicians, who are members of Jade, Access, and AAMG, are in private practice. The physicians can join many medical groups at the same time that are in partnership with multiple health plans, including CCHP.