The nation’s largest health care foundation announced Thursday it will invest in the Community Health Alliance of Humboldt-Del Norte, along with 13 other community-based program across the country as part of a $300 million initiative to spearhead health-quality reforms through regional collaboratives.

As backward as it may be, volume is rewarded over quality in the health care industry and that is not something that can be changed overnight, said Allan Katz, executive director Community Health Alliance of Humboldt-Del Norte.

“We know there are people in our community that receive expensive and unnecessary care,” Katz said.

The non-profit local health alliance, a group of health care providers, employers, government agencies, community foundations and residents, will receive more than $1 million over three years on top of expertise, technical help and training from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Everyone in the health care system wants to deliver high-quality care, but the fragmented nature of our health care markets and delivery systems often prevents key players from working together toward that common goal,” Katz said in a statement. “We are excited to be selected for this initiative, so we can bring all the parties together — those who get care, give care and pay for care — to drive real improvements in Humboldt County.”

The Community Health Alliance of Humboldt-Del Norte is the only program in California selected by the foundation to receive grants. The program, known as “Aligning Forces for Quality,” is designed to lift the overall quality of health care, reduce racial and ethnic disparities and provide models for nation reform.

Though Humboldt ranks high in quality of care and does better than the state and national average in breast cancer screening, according to a report by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Police and Clinical Practice, its mammography rates for women on Medicare could improve.

“Three in ten women insured by Medicare are still not getting recommended mammograms,” a statement said. “And although the rate of amputations due to complications from peripheral vascular disease and diabetes is well below the national and state average, there is room for improvement in this area as well.”

The program will ask Humboldt and the other 13 communities to measure and report on health care, which if done right, can help providers improve their ability to deliver quality care, help providers measure and publicly report their performance and help patients and consumers understand their vital role in recognizing and demanding high-quality care.

David Shute, a Portland-based doctor, said doctors and health care providers want to do what’s right for patients, but reiterated that it’s not quality that’s rewarded.

“Our system is not designed to provide the care patients need and want,” he said. The funds will help his community in Oregon’s Willamette Valley compile data, report that data publicly and help patients understand how to be an advocate for their health.

Tony Starr, St. Joseph Health System-Humboldt regional director of performance improvement and outcome management, said transitions and change take time, so this movement will be a long-term commitment.

“Our goal really is, from a hospital perspective, to keep people from coming to us,” he said.