Four Los Angeles County School-Based Clinics To Reopen After $200,000 Donation

The L.A. Care Health Plan, which oversees state and federal government-funded HMOs that serve Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Los Angeles County, plans to donate $200,000 to "temporarily reopen" four school-based health clinics in the county, the Los Angeles Times reports (Hayasaki, Los Angeles Times, 10/31). In September, the county closed the clinics as part of an effort to reduce the county health department's estimated $710 million budget deficit (California Healthline, 9/16). The funding will allow the clinics, which are located at four Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, to resume free walk-in services for children for four additional months, according to health department spokesperson John Wallace. About 10 employees who were reassigned within the department after the clinics were closed will likely return to their previous positions over the next several weeks, according to Gretchen McGinley, who heads three of the clinics. The county Board of Supervisors will have to seek additional funding to keep the clinics open beyond the four months, Wallace said (Los Angeles Times, 10/31).