COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Health Services Agency

 

DATE:

January 15, 2003

BOARD MEETING DATE:

January 28, 2003

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Margaret Taylor, Director, Health Services Agency

 

SUBJECT:

Children's Health Initiative (CHI)

 

Recommendation

1.

Adopt a resolution authorizing the president of the Board to execute agreements with the San Mateo County Children and Families First Commission, Peninsula Community Foundation, San Mateo Health Commission and Peninsula Health Care District.

2.

Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request for $772, 216.

3.

Adopt a resolution establishing an interest-earning trust fund for Healthy Kids San Mateo

4.

Adopt a resolution thanking the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County for their staff's work on implementing the San Mateo County CHI.

5.

Adopt a resolution thanking the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco for their staff's work on implementing the San Mateo County CHI.

 

Background

At the request of your Board, the Children's Health Initiative (CHI) Coalition has coordinated an effort to ensure seamless, integrated health insurance coverage for all children in San Mateo County. Over the past six months, it has developed the new Healthy Kids program. This program is a comprehensive health insurance product that will cover children who are ineligible for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and who come from families with incomes at or below 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Santa Clara County and San Francisco, which both have Healthy Kids programs, have provided valuable programmatic support and resources.

The Coalition, with support from your Board and the County Manager, has successfully raised over $8 million to implement Healthy Kids and CHI. Most recently, the Peninsula Health Care District voted on December 19, 2003 to provide $750,000 in funding for the CHI. Other funding commitments have come from a diverse group of public and private funders, including the County of San Mateo, San Mateo County Children and Families First Commission, Peninsula Community Foundation (PCF), the Sequoia Health Care District, the Packard Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, the Children's Fund, and the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children's Health. Effective January 2, 2003, CHI increased outreach and enrollment efforts for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and began enrolling children into the new Healthy Kids program, enabling it to move toward the goal of coverage for all children.

 

Health Services Agency will serve as the lead agency of the Coalition's efforts. It will oversee outreach, and enrollment activities, and overall project evaluation and administration. Health Services will also provide fiscal oversight for the Initiative. It will ensure that private and public funds are spent following the various funding requirements of grantors (some grants must be spent on children between the ages of 6 and 18 or within specific district areas and other grants can only be used for specific activities such as outreach and enrollment or project evaluation). Health Services also will account for the Healthy Kids family contributions, guaranteeing that the money is tracked back to the various funding sources. Contributions will be deposited into a County trust fund and the interest will accrue to the fund.

 

Discussion

 

The San Mateo Health Commission, doing business as the Health Plan of San Mateo, will serve as the plan administrator for Healthy Kids, receiving a monthly premium per-member per-month to provide comprehensive health benefits.

 

Peninsula Community Foundation will oversee and pay for Health Services and HPSM activities. The Children and Families First Commission is making a contribution for the expenses for eligible children up through age 5. The Peninsula Health Care District is contributing up to $750,000 over two fiscal years for premiums and other costs including administration and evaluation for children in its district.

 

The Appropriation Transfer Request recognizes current year contributions and provides appropriation authority for premiums and non-premium related activities in 2002-03.

 

The creation of an interest-bearing trust fund allows the donors to confidently know that the funds contributed to the CHI and Healthy Kids San Mateo are all spent on the services to provide health coverage for children.

 

Finally, Health Services recommends your Board adopt resolutions thanking Santa Clara County and the City and County of San Francisco for their support of San Mateo's CHI.

 

Vision Alignment

The contracts, the ATR, and the resolution keep to the commitment of Ensuring Basic Health and Safety for All and goal number 5: Residents have access to health care and preventive care. They contribute to this commitment and goal by providing health care coverage to all children from low-income and middle-income families.

 

Fiscal Impact

Approval of this resolution has no impact on the County General Fund. It has a projected fiscal impact on the Solid Waste Fund of $440,000 for 2002-03; $1,470,000 for 2003-04; and $2,010,000 for 2004-05.