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Another recuperation care center for unhoused residents and a new training initiative for local behavioral health workers are being considered for rapid action by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors next week.
They are among seven proposals to share $80 million in “evergreen” federal funds that remain in the American Rescue Plan Act.
The idea was to use the cash to seed investments that would either be “self-sustaining revenue streams or leverage external matching funds.”
The special appropriations subcommittee, which includes Director Terra Lawson-Remar, recommended this last round of federal funding, which is a relatively small portion of the $653 million received from the government’s $2 trillion pandemic-era spending program. I was tasked with putting together the.
Lawson Roemer’s request, which will be taken up at the board’s next regular meeting on Jan. 9, is a new law in California, Senate Bill 43, that many hospital administrators will loudly protest and flood. It was filed shortly after she voted against one of two votes on delaying implementation of the . Strengthen emergency departments by increasing the number of homeless residents picked up in “5150” holds for suspected danger to themselves or others, or severe disability.
On Dec. 5, regulators delayed implementation of SB 43 for one year, but Lawson Roemer urged his colleagues to implement the new law “as soon as possible” and not wait until the first day of 2025.
In her proposal, supervisors are seeking a Jan. 9 vote to act on three recommendations, with the remainder scheduled to go back to the board for decision at a follow-up meeting in February.
These programs include $8 million to build a second facility with approximately 100 “recuperative homeless beds” and $24 million for a regional workforce training fund to support the education and promotion of behavioral health workers. $13 million as a one-time payment. Help county employees cover increasing medical costs for county employees.
There is still a lot of collaborative work to be done between local governments and health care providers to determine how SB 43 can be implemented without crushing emergency departments, but supervisors said in a recent interview that , said he believed there was no good reason to wait for some emergencies. item.
“If we wait and think about it until everyone comes back with a plan in a year, it will be another year before we get a bed, and we already know we need beds now. ” Lawson Roemer said. “At least by the time we get to implementation, we are already proactive and increasing bed capacity.”
She said the center could be modeled after the 106-bed Abraham and Lillian Turk Convalescent Care Center operated by Interfaith Community Services of Escondido. The county investment of $8 million, with matching contributions, is estimated to provide approximately $35 million in operating funds over five years, allowing the full-service hospital to accommodate more patients after inpatient care and more than needed. It can prevent you from being hospitalized for a long time. .
Interfaith CEO Greg Anglea said the operating revenue assumptions appear to be correct. He said Turk is one of Interfaith’s only services that can support itself without charitable contributions because Medi-Cal recently began allowing such nurse-staffed centers to receive direct reimbursement.
Since the facility began operating six months ago, the number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries moving into the former motel building has gradually increased, he said.
“We are operating at 75% to 80% occupancy, but we know we will reach 100% occupancy within the next six months to a year,” he said. Most added: The center will eventually find stable housing in the community.
He said he would welcome similar facilities in other parts of the county.
“One of the challenges we have is that we are in Escondido and North County and not everyone who is referred to our center wants to come to Escondido.” Angrea said. “I strongly believe that given the number of people on the streets and the number of people coming in and out of the emergency department, we need some of these additional treatment centers in the county.
“That would be a wise investment.”
The second initiative will use existing training programs similar to those created by a Kaiser Permanente initiative called Futuro Health and another initiative called “AlliedUp” to build the skills of existing behavioral health care workers. Improve your set. According to a recent study by the San Diego Workforce Partnership, San Diego County will need an additional 18,500 behavioral health workers by 2027, but existing training programs will exceed existing training programs to meet this number. It’s going to be very difficult.
Lawson Roemer said the ability of existing programs to increase the skill level of existing behavioral health workers at small and medium-sized providers and simply bring more workers into the pipeline by covering training costs. He said that he had researched the ability to
“This is clearly an urgent need,” Lawson Roemer said. “No matter how many facilities we build, we can’t meet the behavioral health service needs of our community if we don’t have people who can work there.”
The list includes other proposals, including two the board has already approved. One is $6 million to assist asylum-seeking immigrants to “facilitate their movement from San Diego County to their final destination,” and the other is $8 million to substantially expand the number of recovery beds. . Abuse treatment facility. Another proposal would allocate $13 million in one-time payments to cover increased medical costs for county employees and create a pilot program to explore housing assistance for those same employees.
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