Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events often associated with negative health outcomes in adulthood. In January 2020, California launched the ACEs Aware initiative, offering Medicaid providers training and payment for ACE screening. A key component of this initiative was the California ACEs Learning and Quality Improvement Collaborative (CALQIC), a statewide learning collaborative comprised of 48 clinics.

This study, comprised of 40 of the 48 participating CALQIC clinics, sought to determine whether there is a correlation between establishing a trauma-informed environment of care and the uptake of ACE screening. Results of the study indicated a positive correlation between the implementation of a trauma-informed environment of care and an increased utilization of ACE screening, suggesting that fostering a clinic’s trauma-informed systems change is critical for successful implementation of ACE screening.