San Joaquin County Cuts Off Funding for Mobile Clinic Service
Last week, San Joaquin County supervisors voted to eliminate funding for the county's mobile clinic after November because of concerns about whether the service was cost effective, the Stockton Record reports.
About 3,500 patients received treatment through the mobile clinic in 2007-2008, and the service was projected to cost $237,905 in 2008-2009. There is no cost for patients to receive treatment at the mobile clinic.
In a report, county health administrators said that more patients could be served more efficiently at traditional clinics. Administrators explained that using permanent clinics also would allow the county to collect fees for some services and assign patients to a regular primary care physician.
County health administrators also raised the possibility of another organization taking over the county's mobile clinic service (Torres, Stockton Record, 10/21).
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