In a few weeks, a team of Washington, D.C.-based researchers will descend on the Central Valley for a couple of days of interviews about health care.

Some questions are already being directed their way: Since we've already been dubbed the Appalachia of the West Coast, why do we need more research? With all the scads of studying done, we've had our fill of problem-finders, where are the solution-makers? We obviously make money for graph-makers, when do Dems, Reeps, Greenies, Indies and Libertarians join hands, get dirty and figure out something other than an emergency room is needed to bail out somebody who's defaulted out of health insurance?

Drawn from a press release, here's what's coming:

"With one of the largest health care economies in the world, California's size and the diversity of its regional delivery systems means that health care is organized, delivered, and financed differently in the various regions of the state.

"As part of its continuing efforts to help inform local leaders, policymakers, the public, and the media about regional disparities in health care affordability, access, and quality, the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) is supporting the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) to conduct in-depth site visits in six California regions.

"The visits will provide a detailed picture of each local health care system and identify common themes and emerging issues that influence how Californians receive health care now and in the future. The effort will include interviews with local health care leaders, including representatives of health plans, hospitals, physician organizations, major employers, benefit consultants, insurance brokers, community health centers, consumer advocates, and state and local policymakers."

Understand, I'm helping arrange interviews for the researchers. I've also told them that in 2005 the Congressional Research Service and the California Research Bureau each did extensive studies on the Valley -- as have others, like Fresno State's Central Valley Health Policy Institute and the Brookings Institution, which found one of the nation's deepest poverty pockets is across the street from Community Regional Medical Center.

We've drowning in baseline, "we've got it worse than anybody" data. I'm not surprised that some dedicated souls who've been endlessly restitching the Valley's health care safety net may opt out of additional guinea pig duty.