"On May 19th, the Board was informed by Deputy Secretary of Health Michael Huff that neither hospital nor foundation contributions will qualify as local share for the purpose of defining Act 315 match funding. ....
"Needless to say, this decision was wholly unanticipated and requires an extensive reanalysis of all funding projections and a complete re-working of the initial five-year financial plan which had been prepared for delivery to the Health Commission this week and presentation to commission members on June 8th."
The LV Health Comm'n was scheduled to meet on June 8th and review the Board of Health's financial plan. That meeting has now been canceled.
Update (3:40 PM): Chairman Dougherty Reacts
In response to the bad news from Dr. Lyon, LV Health Comm'n Chair Percy Dougherty has officially canceled the June 8th meeting. In a statement, he expresses his disappointment.
It is with great regret that I am forced to cancel the June 8th meeting of the Lehigh Valley Health Commission based on the decision of Michael Huff, the Deputy Secretary of Health of Pennsylvania, to not allow hospital or foundation contributions to qualify for the purpose of Act 315 matching funds from the State. This means the budget of the Provisional Health Board is invalid and must be reworked to reflect the loss of this important source of income.
The importance of this money is paramount because it is needed to draw down funding from the State on a 1:l matching basis. Much of the support for the Lehigh Valley Health Departments rests on the ability to drawn down $6/person in matching funds from the State. The Act 315 fund supports the required services that the health department must provide.
This doesn't mean that the Lehigh Valley Health Department received a fatal blow, but it is definitely on life support until the budget analysis is reworked to make up for this critical piece of funding. It is apparenth at the State of Pennsylvania budgetc risis is being felt by the State Department of Health and they in turn are passing the funding shortage on to us in the form of decreased funding.
I will be asking Michael Huff for further clarification and for additional information from the Health Board in terms of how they will make up for this lack of funding from altemative sources. Depending on the answers another meeting will be scheduled in mid to late July to present the revised budget.
Some believe that this is the death knell for a joint bi-county [sic] health department; but although I believe it is a life threatening injury, I believe that further clarification of income sources must be analyzed before we jump to any hasty conclusions.
29 comments:
foolish decision by the state. our local legislators need to act on that and push legislation that says a local match can come from any source.
This is an opportunity to do something good and to do so with minimal reliance on county real estate taxes.
HURRAH FOR THE TAXPAYERS!!!!! You can't expect to get something for nothing! They had to come up with 3.7 mil in matching funds and with this economy they were probably unable to do it. With both counties in financial difficulties, this was just not the time to put this forward. These services all ready exist- via by government agencies(local and state) and by private agencies. Plus their plan of only starting to offer services to just the cities and eventually expand out to the rest of the counties some time later probably did not sit well either with the state.
"... and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
"There but for the grace of God, there go I." Yes, many of these services are already provided by local agencies that are all about to be disbanded or cut. Soon we'll be back in Biblical times with lepers on the street begging for alms.
very disappointing news..hopefully we can come to a realization that we are all in this together. Combining services will save money in the long run but I guess everyone knows,'we're all dead in the long run.'
Good. A totally useless/unnecessary department.
Bernie,
Thanks, as always, for your continued coverage of local issues of the day.
Naturally, we at RenewLV were disappointed to learn about the State Department of Health's (PADOH's) decision regarding the matching funds for regional public health. This was an unexpected reversal of what PADOH has been telling Lehigh Valley leaders for about 10 years. Is it a setback for the effort to establish a regional health department? Without a doubt.
But it certainly doesn't kill the effort. Despite only having gotten this news just recently, the Board of Health has already made significant progress at addressing how to develop a feasible budget, even working with the constraints newly laid out by PADOH. In doing so, the Board of Health is well aware of the challenges presented by the current fiscal (and political) climate.
In addition, keep in mind that the June 8 Health Commission meeting has been postponed, not canceled as your post implies. That's an important distinction, because the bottom line is that the Board of Health will get the chance to make its case--and present its budget--to the two county legislatures some time soon.
I know (and appreciate) that you follow the work of RenewLV pretty closely, so I'll spare you (for now) having to hear from us yet again about the many good reasons--in terms of health, safety, and disaster preparedness--that the Lehigh Valley needs a regional health department. Rather, let me quote from a prominent blogger:
"But how much is a child's life worth? There are statistics showing that infant mortality rates are higher here than in other areas of the state. So are the death rates for diseases like melanoma. According to these dedicated professionals, public health will change that dynamic. If this is true, it will be worth every penny we spend."
(http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-much-is-public-health-worth.html)
Steven Bliss
RenewLV (www.renewlv.org)
Relax. Obama just took care of all of this.
One less bureaucracy to watch-dog over. It is time we shrink government on every level - not grow it!
Steve,
As you know, I respect and admire you and the work done by your group, as well as your willingness to defend a proposal when it is at its most unpopular.
As you also know, I support a bi-county health department, but only one that will entailno county contributions for the next three years. Unless something drastic happens, I believe this is the final nail in the coffin.
I still don't get the opposition to something so valuable as health. Let's continue to work to make this happen. Improving the health of valley residents should be at the top of our priorities.
This was always going to cost a bundle in local tax dollars. The proponents have been disingenuous for the past 20years.
The idea that the local hospitals would contribute to this is a joke. Once approved they will head for the hills and who would that leave as responsible, right; the Counties.
The state has a 2 billion dollar deficit. Gee, why don't we put public health nurses on the Lehigh Valley trains we build, I mean its only tax money.
These people wonder how people see through their dreams of creating new and exotic government job programs on the County taxpayers dime.
We know who is behind the screen oh mighty OZ!
The Tock
this thing was dead before it was born - it has been a BS project all along as well as a waste of time and money - this valley and it's so called leaders are a joke
Folks, there just isn't any more money to give. I can find any number of wonderful services to spend on, BUT there just isn't any more money from the taxpayer to give (yes, I repeat). Municipal money is from US; county money is from US; state money is from US; federal money is from US. This project sounds like we were duplicating too many services instead of demanding efficiency. I am also suspect of anything that creates a bigger system because at some point there are diminishing returns.
How much money was spent on this? Anyone know?
Anonymous said...
I still don't get the opposition to something so valuable as health. Let's continue to work to make this happen. Improving the health of valley residents should be at the top of our priorities.
8:13 PM
An easy way to improve the Valley's health is to limit the number of fast food joints on almost every corner.
"How much money was spent on this? Anyone know?"
Nocounty tax dollars have been spent. Some grants from two private foundations have kept this afloat.
I consider public health a laudable objective, especially when pursued regionally, because it provides more efficiencies and better matching funds.
But the idea, from the onset, involved no county funding at all. That later changed to some local funding. Now it seems to be changing to more local funding.
We simply can't afford to do this at a time wen we are talking layoffs by attrition and a possile mandatory furlough.
This project is finished. The counties have no money to contribute. Both counties are desperately trying to slash their budgets, not increase them.
The state won't be helping either.
It's over. No point in beating the bones of the horse that's been dead from the start. Everything from this point on is just conversation.
Thank God !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It would have been such an incredibly dumb idea in the first place..Where would the County have gotten any matching funds in these tight budget times. Any money that would have been used by this so called health department would have to have been taken from Human Service funding elsewhere..They were talking about using Casino monies which should be going to Human Services and court services because they are the ones impacted..A health department????????? Are you kidding me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mr. bliss, may i respectfully suggest that you instead advocate for the continuation of cedarbrook and gracedale, which have served the needs of their county's elderly for many decades. no studies required, just the maintenance of the status quo
I agree with Thank God!!!
This project was massaged to look like it was self sustaining but the reality is even in a best case scenario it would cost the Counties millions.
Now where was that money going to come from???
Thank God!!!!, got that one right!!!!
Do you understand that WE are already paying for a county health department? This has been stated time and time again but why aren't people getting it? The matching funds come from the money that we are already paying from our taxes!!!!! The state will give us dollar for dollar up to $6.00 per capita on what we are already paying! The money is there waiting for us!!! I'll leave you with this: People of the Slate Belt area, the next time you take your kids to the Bangor or Pen Argyl pool understand that these pools are NOT TESTED for bacteria or any other pathogens infesting them because we do not have a county health department to do so. The next time you take your family to T.K.'s Restaurant, understand that it has not been inspected in years - again because we do not have a county health department. Why is it that the poorest state in the U.S. - Mississippi can afford to run a county health department in EACH of their counties - not just regional departments that cover several counties such as Pennsylvania. Mississippi has 81 county health departments and several separate clinics and Pennsylvania can't even come close! This is pathetic that Northampton County doesn't get it. Kudos to Ron Angle and all the nimrods that put him into office. This is what you get for supporting an unethical, law-breaking politician
Ahhh. Personal attacks. The perfect way to lose an argument. You just invalidated all the goosd points you made.
By the way, according to the state department of health, TK's was last inspected on 10/29/09.
And pools are inspected yearly and must submit reports to the Dept. of Health about certain things.
12:28 not only gives personal attacks, but also wrong information. One- there are 60 state health centers through out the commonwealth-each assigned their own county. Two- to get your money from the state, you must have local funds to match as stated in Act 315 which can be found on the Dept. of Health's website. Three-pools are inspected through out the year by DOH, they actually add extra staff over the summer- reports are submitted to them and pools are closed if there is a problem. And fourth- Mississippi is a poor example. They are 50th in overall health rankings compared to 28th for PA.
4:24 - The county will at least get matching funds for the $6.00 per capita in each county. The board was hoping to have the "in-kind" funds matched as well. There are 57 local health centers within Pennsylvania which offer limited services. For example, the office in Northampton County does not offer public health services only pamphlets/brochures, etc., if you want services such as H1N1 vaccines, you're out of luck! If that were the case, John Reinhart would not have had to take money out of the school budget to supply the vaccines to the school district population. I do feel that at some point (strictly my opinion) there will be some type of a county health department/ bureau. It's been in the making since the 1950's and people haven't given up yet. I would hate to see a horrific outbreak and have to depend on Harrisburg to help us!
11:35- Sorry but you are incorrect to your response to 4:24-
There are six district offices, 60 health centers, six county and four municipal health departments through out the commonwealth.
The State Health Center in Northampton County does the following besides hand out pamphlets:
-Confidential Testing and Counseling for HIV (clinic held first Tues of every month or by appointment)
-Tuberculosis Testing and Treatment for those with active disease and those with positive skin tests (2 clinics held monthly)
-Immunizations for Children and Adults (they hold 2 clinics a month and more as needed and flu clinics are held about once a week during season)
-Special Health Management (children with special health care
needs are followed up by nurses)
-Lead Poisoning Education and Case Management (monitoring of children with high levels and home inspections done for those with levels over 20)
-Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Services and Grief
Counseling (a nurse specially trained in this does home visits to families)
-Disease Prevention, Information, and Investigations (73 different communicable disease investigated and people educated about their illness and onsite visits made in the event of an outbreak)
-Animal Bite Investigation
-Inservices provided to community groups, schools , health professionals, local agencies etc.. on different health topics.
-Provide consultations with health professionals, child care providers, the public, etc...
-Are members and attend meetings of many coalitions through out the Lehigh Valley such as immunization, child death review, safe kids, weed n seed, to name a few.
-During the H1N1 occurance - several clinics were held at the office (during the day, in the evening and even on Saturdays) and through out the community. Almost 2000 people were vaccinated by their efforts. They also coordinated and delivered H1N1 vaccine to many doctors offices through out the valley in the very beginning so that the most at risk were taken care of.
And the vaccine and all the supplies that Bangor received for the H1N1 were given to them FREE of charge by the state. They were also offered assistance with administering the vaccine, but they were not interested.
PS- your 57 is old information. The 3 state health centers (Dalphin, Berks & Butler) that were closed due to a pilot project were re-instated about 3 years ago after the project failed and the private agencies that took over no longer wanted to provide the public health services.
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