Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/orange-county-health-care-agency/)
As a growing opioid epidemic claims hundreds of lives across Orange County, Supervisor Todd Spitzer said heroin addicts should be given help for their addiction, not antidote kits to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
Assistant Director Richard Sanchez will assume the top role at the end of March, when Director Mark Refowitz retires.
Across California, counties are jockeying for a share of $34.4 million in competitive state grants aimed at providing services for drug offenders released from state prisons under Proposition 47. But with the grant deadline just days away, OC appears to be behind the curve.
Supervisor Andrew Do says he is in “an ideal position” to lead county’s $3.4 billion healthcare plan for the county’s low-income, disabled and elderly residents as it continues to deal with past problems and confronts the promised Obamacare repeal.
The Orange County Health Care Agency will be giving free meningitis vaccinations at two local bars and the LGBT Center as part of an effort to stop an outbreak that has afflicted two dozen people across Southern California.
Five infections have been diagnosed in the county since June, with a sixth case pending confirmation, according to the county Health Care Agency. Public health officials suspect widespread use of online dating apps may be playing a role.
In part because of new rules, at least five members of the board that oversees the county’s $3.2 billion health plan for poor, disabled and elderly residents will be gone in August.
Since the late 1990s, Orange County has had the largest suicide-rate increase among the nation’s 20 most-populous counties, according to a Voice of OC analysis of federal suicide data. County leaders are taken aback by figures.
More than 130 people showed up to a hearing organized by supervisors Andrew Do and Lisa Bartlett, with many describing a mental health system that is dysfunctional. But others expressed a sense of hope about its potential.
Supervisors say changes will increase oversight of the county’s health plan for poor and disabled residents. Critics are encouraged by some of the changes but skeptical that too much power will remain with the hospital industry.