Title
Receive an update from the Health Department Clinic Services Bureau on the conversion of standalone clinics on the Natividad campus to intermittent clinics.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Budget Committee:
Receive an update from the Health Department Clinic Services Bureau on the conversion of standalone clinics on the Natividad campus to intermittent clinics.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
On April 29, 2025, the Board of Supervisors (BOS) approved the Health Department Clinic Services Bureau’s (CSB) plan to convert four standalone clinics on the Natividad campus: Laurel Family Practice, Laurel Internal Medicine, Laurel Vista, and Laurel Pediatrics, to intermittent clinic status, linking them to the NIDO (Infectious Disease) Clinic as their parent clinic, effective May 3, 2025. This strategy is expected to improve the financial stability of the Clinic Services Bureau by allowing patient visits to be billed at the higher Prospective Payment System (PPS) rate of $541 per visit, compared to the current average of $228 per visit. This change is projected to generate approximately $20 million in additional annual revenue. The Board directed staff to provide quarterly updates to the Budget Committee.
Following Board approval, the CSB informed the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) of the intermittent operations start date of May 3, 2025, for the four clinics. As of that date, the clinics began operating under intermittent clinic guidelines, which limit operations to no more than 40 hours per week. In partnership with staff and labor, internal workflows, staffing schedules, and hours of operation were adjusted accordingly to comply with these requirements, with minimal disruption to patient access.
Consistent with intermittent clinic conversion guidelines, billing for Medi-Cal visits at the four clinics was paused beginning May 3, 2025. As of the end of May, approximately 5,600 visits are pending submission. Once these claims from May are s...
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