Rachel Stern, MD

Assistant Clinical Prof Vol

I currently serve as the Chief Medical Quality Officer of Ambulatory Care for Ventura County Healthcare Agency. VCHCA is the public healthcare delivery system for Ventura County, a rural county located on California's Central Coast I am also a primary care physician and serve as volunteer clinical faculty at UCSF. I co-teach the health systems and quality improvement curriculum for UCSF internal medicine primary care residents.

From 2017-2021 I was a full-time UCSF faculty member. My role was as the medical director of the Public Hospital Redesign and Incentives in Medi-Cal (PRIME) and Quality Incentive Pool (QIP) programs for the San Francisco Health Network. I also worked on special COVID19 projects including serving as the deputy lead for SFHN's COVID vaccine delivery. My primary interest is in making public health care systems safer, higher quality and more equitable. Other interests include value based care, Medicaid transformation, teaching QI, developing the next generation of safety net leaders and high quality chronic disease care, especially for heart failure, diabetes and hypertension.

Education
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
Chief Residency, 2017 - , University of California, San Francisco
Residency, 2016 - Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
M.D., 2013 - Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
AB, 2007 - Social Studies, Harvard College
Publications

  1. Steverson AB, Marano PJ, Chen C, Ma Y, Stern RJ, Feng J, Gennatas ED, Marks JD, Durstenfeld MS, Davis JD, Hsue PY, Zier LS. Predictors of All-Cause 30-Day Readmissions in Patients with Heart Failure at an Urban Safety Net Hospital: The Importance of Social Determinants of Health and Mental Health. American Journal of Medicine Open 2023. PMID: 39035237


  2. Incze MA, Parks AL, Stern RJ. Teaching a Deeper Understanding of the Medical Literature. Journal of general internal medicine 2022. PMID: 36316623


  3. Perry L, Scheerens C, Greene M, Shi Y, Onion Z, Bayudan E, Stern RJ, Gilissen J, Chodos AH. Unmet health-related needs of community-dwelling older adults during COVID-19 lockdown in a diverse urban cohort. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022. PMID: 36273406


  4. Marano PJ, Steverson AB, Chen C, Ma Y, Stern RJ, Davis J, Hsue PY, Zier LS. Effect of a Novel, Evidence-Based, Standardized Discharge Checklist on 30-Day All-Cause Readmissions in Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure in an Urban Safety Net Hospital. The American journal of cardiology 2022. PMID: 36028389


  5. Stern RJ. The Power Of Access To Affordable Care. Health affairs (Project Hope) 2020. PMID: 32119613


  6. Sharma AE, Rivadeneira NA, Barr-Walker J, Stern RJ, Johnson AK, Sarkar U. Patient Engagement In Health Care Safety: An Overview Of Mixed-Quality Evidence. Health affairs (Project Hope) 2018. PMID: 30395509


  7. Steinbrook R, Stern RJ, Redberg RF. Firearm Violence: A JAMA Internal Medicine Series. Volume 177 of Issue 1. JAMA internal medicine 2017. PMID: 27842170


  8. Stern RJ. Teaching Medical Students to Engage Meaningfully and Judiciously With Patient Data. JAMA internal medicine 2016. PMID: 27455452


  9. Steinbrook R, Stern RJ, Redberg RF. Firearm Injuries and Gun Violence: Call for Papers. Volume 176 of Issue 5. JAMA internal medicine 2016. PMID: 27019879


  10. Stern RJ. Health Policy and Medical Training: Breaking Down Barriers Between the Wards and the World. JAMA internal medicine 2016. PMID: 26641952


  11. Stern RJ, Parks AL. Teaching High-Value Care on Rounds: Modeling Moderation. JAMA internal medicine 2016. PMID: 26719945


  12. Stern RJ. Mass Media Campaigns to Prevent Chronic Disease-A Powerful but Underused Tool. JAMA internal medicine 2015. PMID: 26389848


  13. Stern RJ, Charlton B. Maximizing the EMR's Educational Potential. JAMA internal medicine 2015. PMID: 26030418


  14. Stern RJ. Reducing Life-Threatening Allopurinol Hypersensitivity. JAMA internal medicine 2015. PMID: 26192474


  15. Charlton B, Stern RJ. Searching for Joy in Residency by Listening to Our Patients. JAMA internal medicine 2015. PMID: 26053487


  16. Stern RJ, Murphy EJ. Metformin as Initial Oral Therapy in Type 2 Diabetes. JAMA 2015. PMID: 26103032


  17. Stern RJ, Fernandez A, Jacobs EA, Neilands TB, Weech-Maldonado R, Quan J, Carle A, Seligman HK. Advances in measuring culturally competent care: a confirmatory factor analysis of CAHPS-CC in a safety-net population. Medical care 2012. PMID: 22895231


  18. Fernandez A, Seligman H, Quan J, Stern RJ, Jacobs EA. Associations between aspects of culturally competent care and clinical outcomes among patients with diabetes. Medical care 2012. PMID: 22895235


  19. Seligman HK, Fernandez A, Stern RJ, Weech-Maldonado R, Quan J, Jacobs EA. Risk factors for reporting poor cultural competency among patients with diabetes in safety net clinics. Medical care 2012. PMID: 22895232


  20. Rivera AV, Blaney S, Crawford ND, White K, Stern RJ, Amesty S, Fuller C. Individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with nonprescription counseling in pharmacies participating in the New York State Expanded Syringe Access Program. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhA 2010. PMID: 20833615


  21. Rudolph AE, Standish K, Amesty S, Crawford ND, Stern RJ, Badillo WE, Boyer A, Brown D, Ranger N, Orduna JM, Lasenburg L, Lippek S, Fuller CM. A community-based approach to linking injection drug users with needed services through pharmacies: an evaluation of a pilot intervention in New York City. AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education 2010. PMID: 20528131


  22. Rudolph AE, Crawford ND, Ompad DC, Benjamin EO, Stern RJ, Fuller CM. Comparison of injection drug users accessing syringes from pharmacies, syringe exchange programs, and other syringe sources to inform targeted HIV prevention and intervention strategies. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhA 2010. PMID: 20199954