San Diego County OKs New Disease Management Effort
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan to use a $44.5 million federal grant to launch a disease management program for low-income residents with hypertension or diabetes, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/17).
In March, state officials announced that 10 California counties had received a combined $540 million in federal funding over the next three years for a program to provide health care services to 180,000 low-income, uninsured residents who are not eligible for public health insurance.
The funding will be directed to provide services for individuals who generally seek care at emergency departments. Counties will use the funding for programs to provide preventive care services to these individuals and follow-up treatment for chronic conditions (California Healthline, 3/30).
Supervisors hope to enroll about 3,000 residents in the effort. To qualify, residents must be U.S. citizens and have incomes that do not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level (San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/17).