California Healthline Highlights Recent Health Care-Related County News
CMS on Dec. 29, 2005, notified Alameda County Medical Center that it could lose federal funding, but the county Board of Supervisors was unaware of problems at the center until reading about it in a local newspaper on Thursday, the Oakland Tribune reports (Vesely, Oakland Tribune, 1/14).
An inspection conducted between Oct. 4, 2005, and Oct. 6, 2005, found deficiencies in patients' rights and nursing services, as well as inadequate staff support from management in caring for patients, according to a letter from CMS. The inspection was prompted by a patient suicide at John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro (Vesely, Oakland Tribune, 1/12).
Wright Lassiter, incoming CEO of the hospital, said he planned to tell supervisors about problems at the hospital after a correction plan was in place. The hospital sent a correction plan to federal regulators Jan. 9. Supervisors and the hospital's Board of Trustees are scheduled to meet Wednesday (Oakland Tribune, 1/14).
El Dorado County's Wraparound Program does not comply with key requirements of state legislation, the program plan and an agreement between the county mental health department and DHS, according to a grand jury report released Friday, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The Wraparound Program provides money for the county mental health department to develop individualized programs to allow children, who would otherwise be placed in group homes, to stay with their families.
According to the report, the county accumulated a surplus of $173,244 from the program over three years. The report states many of the problems with the program can be attributed to a lack of oversight by management, the Bee reports.
The report makes several recommendations for the program, including delegating management of the program to the Multi-departmental Interagency Council and submitting a plan for spending the surplus fund (Locke, Sacramento Bee, 1/12).
KXJZ's "Capital Public Radio" on Tuesday examined the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors' review of local mental health officials' plan for about $10 million in funds from Proposition 63, a November 2004 ballot measure that increased the state income tax by 1% for state residents whose annual incomes exceed $1 million to fund mental health services. The segment includes comments from Ann Edwards-Buckley, county chief of adult mental health services (Milne, "Capital Public Radio," KXJZ, 1/17).
The complete transcript is available online. The complete segment is available online in Windows Media.
KQED's "The California Report" on Friday examined the county's participation in the statewide medical marijuana identification card program (Varney, "The California Report," KQED, 1/13). Department of Health Services officials in July reinstated a state medical marijuana identification card program after receiving a letter from Attorney General Bill Lockyer's (D) office indicating that operators of the program will not be at risk for federal prosecution (California Healthline, 7/19/05).
The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 10 approved nearly $60 million in bonds to begin construction on the Valley Health Clinic-Gilroy, the Gilroy Dispatch reports. The clinic, which will include obstetrics, gynecology and other services, is part of a county plan to increase access to medical care in the area.
County officials also plan to build a clinic in Milpitas (Tumgoren, Gilroy Dispatch, 1/13).