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Health and Human Services Publications

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Report

Analysis of the 2007-08 Budget Bill, General Government Chapter

February 21, 2007 - Analysis of the 2007-08 Budget Bill, General Government Chapter

Report

Analysis of the 2007-08 Budget Bill, Health and Social Services Chapter

February 21, 2007 - Analysis of the 2007-08 Budget Bill, Health and Social Services Chapter

Handout

Governor’s Health Care Plan: State Fiscal Risks

February 15, 2007 - Presented to the Senate Health Committee, Hon. Sheila Kuehl, Chair

Report

Promoting Health Information Technology in California: A State Policy Approach

February 12, 2007 - Persistent increases in health care spending and deficiencies in health care quality are attributable in part to the continued reliance by many health care providers on archaic, paper-based methods of storing and communicating health information. Health information technology (HIT) offers the potential to improve health care delivery and quality, but adoption of these tools by health care providers has been slow. Our review assesses the potential for HIT tools such as electronic health records (EHRs) and regional health information organizations (RHIOs) to meet these challenges, and provides an overview of HIT development efforts in government and the private sector. We conclude that the state should take steps to promote widespread adoption of HIT, and we outline several strategies to achieve that goal.

Report

Developing Safety and Quality Ratings for Child Care: Issues and Options

January 4, 2007 - Although the state licenses about 58,000 child care facilities serving up to 1.2 million children, there is little information readily available to parents about the safety and quality of this care. This report describes options to improve the availability of such information. We recommend that the availability of existing information be improved and that ratings be established based on a provider’s safety history.

Handout

Social Services Budget Background Material

October 26, 2006 - Presented to Hon. Patty Berg, Chair Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services.

Handout

Overview of Proposition 86: Tax on Cigarettes

October 3, 2006 - Presented to a joint hearing of Assembly and Senate Revenue and Taxation, Assembly Governmental Organization, and Assembly and Senate Health committees.

Report

Strategies for Improving Child Support Collections In California

May 3, 2006 - Despite reform attempts, California continues to lag the nation in the collection of child support and in its performance on federal outcome measures. We recommend creating a performance-based system which gives counties the flexibility and financial incentives to meet state-established performance benchmarks. If enacted, our proposed reforms would (1) likely increase the amount of child support collected on behalf of custodial parents and (2) restore accountability to the child support enforcement system.

Report

Index of Information Technology Issues in the Analysis of the 2006-07 Budget Bill

February 23, 2006 - Index of Information Technology Issues in the Analysis of the 2006-07 Budget Bill

Report

Reject Freeze for County Administration of Health and Human Services Programs

February 23, 2006 - The Governor proposes to freeze future state participation in county administrative costs for health and social services programs at the 2005-06 level, adjusted for caseload, but not inflation. We recommend rejecting the Governor’s proposal because it would restrict legislative flexibility to adjust funding and services levels.

Report

Increased Inspections Alone Will Not Ensure Safety In Residential and Child Care Facilities

February 23, 2006 - We review the Governor's licensing and certification initiative and conclude that the proposal does not address significant gaps in the enforcement process.

Report

California Failing To Meet Child Welfare Performance Goals

February 23, 2006 - As of January 2006, California is failing all seven outcome federal required child welfare outcome measures. Unless California improves its performance by the fall of 2006, the state faces $59 million in federal penalties. We review the Governor's child welfare proposals and recommend redirecting $15 million into flexible grants for counties to implement their existing improvement plans.

Report

Strategies to Meet Federal Work Participation Rates

February 23, 2006 - The federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 significantly raises the required work participation rates for California’s low-income families in the CalWORKs program. Failure to meet these higher participation rates would result in annual federal penalties which begin in 2008-09 at $173 million We present a range of strategies for meeting this challenge including: increasing participation among existing recipients, bringing former recipients who are employed back into the participation calculation, and establishing separate programs for those who may face substantial barriers to work.

Report

Some Practical Steps to Increase Children’s Enrollment in Health Coverage

February 23, 2006 - The budget plan includes a package of proposals to encourage the enrollment of uninsured children in state health coverage. Some of the proposals are reasonable, but we recommend others be rejected or modified because they are overbudgeted or are likely to be ineffective.

Report

Reform of Licensing and Certification of Health and Social Services Providers

February 23, 2006 - The administration is proposing changes to the way the state conducts licensing and certification of providers of certain health and social services. We concur in some proposals, recommend others be reduced to correct overbudgeted staffing and funding, and propose further changes to improve the way these functions are carried out.

Health and Human Services Staff

Mark Newton
(916) 319-8323
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Health, Developmental Services, and Technology
 
Jason Constantouros
(916) 319-8322
Medi-Cal/Managed Care/Family Health/Health Care Affordability and Workforce Development
 
Brian Metzker
(916) 319-8354
Privacy, Security, and Technology
 
Ryan Miller
(916) 319-8356
Medi-Cal/Behavioral Health/Covered California/CalHHS Agency Issues
 
Angela Short
(916) 319-8309
Child Welfare, Child Support, Community Services and Development, Community Care Licensing, CalSTRS
 
Karina Hendren
(916) 319-8352
Medi-Cal/Long-Term Care/Developmental Services
 
Will Owens
(916) 319-8341
Public Health/Behavioral Health/State Hospitals
 
Sonia Schrager Russo
(916) 319-8361
CalWORKs/CalFresh
 
Juwan Trotter
(916) 319-8358
In-Home Supportive Services/Aging Programs
 
Ginni Bella Navarre
(916) 319-8342
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Human Services and Governance