Elaine Batchlor, MD

Dr. Elaine Batchlor, MPH ’90, is the CEO of MLK Community Healthcare, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 5-star-rated hospital and health system that provides quality care to 1.3 million residents in the medically underserved community of South Los Angeles. 

South L.A. was without a hospital for seven years after the closure of a public hospital in 2007. This loss compounded a medical provider shortage, social and economic disparities, and other obstacles to care that has led to some of the worst health outcomes in the nation. MLKCH opened in 2015 with a goal of providing care equal to that found in more affluent areas.
 
Dr. Batchlor, who earned her master’s degree in public health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, has devoted her career to reducing health disparities and expanding health care quality and access for the most vulnerable. Her innovative efforts to address Medi-Cal provider shortages, payment inequities, and other structural and environmental obstacles to health earned her the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award and the Partners in Care Vision and Excellence in Healthcare Leadership Award.  

Prior to her role at MLK Community Healthcare, Dr. Batchlor was Chief Medical Officer for LA Care, the nation’s largest public insurance plan providing care to a safety-net population. She has also served as Vice President of Finance, Organization and Operations at the California Health Care Foundation, where she developed and oversaw research, policy analysis and programs aimed at improving health care financing and delivery. Early in her career, Dr. Batchlor served as Medical Director for the Los Angeles County Office of Managed Care and as a Chief Medical Officer for Prudential Health Care.

In recognition of her distinguished career, Dr. Batchlor was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the field of health and medicine, in 2019. In 2023, Dr. Batchlor was appointed as a Regent of the University of California system. 

Her first-hand observations of the people, policy, and payment challenges to health equity have been published in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and more. 

In 2024, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and MLKCH released a policy brief examining geographic disparities in rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits among adults. Co-authored by Dr. Batchlor, the study found that South Los Angeles had the highest rate of preventable hospitalizations and highest proportion of adults covered by Medi-Cal.