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Council directs formation of committee to set metrics and schedule for city telehealth vans amid data and access questions
Summary
Councillors asked staff to form a committee to define operational hours, locations, data metrics and reporting for the city’s two telehealth vans after questions about billing, client counts and whether services are limited to Hawthorne residents.
The Hawthorne City Council asked city staff at its Jan. 28 meeting to form a committee to define how the city’s two telehealth vans will operate and how program success will be measured.
Council members raised questions about scheduling, locations, billing, who is served and what data the vendor provides. Councilmember Montero and others said they want the service available to all Hawthorne residents, not only people experiencing homelessness.
Rambo, the telehealth contractor representative, told the council the two Hawthorne vans are dedicated to Hawthorne and “you're billed per day.” He said the vans operate with full-time therapists and technicians and that the firm uses proprietary software (TherapyMate) that can produce custom reports. Rambo said the vans and the two therapists assigned to Hawthorne are “strictly for you at the city of Hawthorne.”
Council members requested specific performance metrics and reporting formats, including unduplicated versus duplicated client counts, session frequency per client, and a way to confirm that clients served while the vans are parked in Hawthorne are Hawthorne residents without violating HIPAA. Councilmember Montero suggested assigning each client an ID and recording whether the client is a resident, nonresident or has unknown address; Rambo said the vendor would work on formats that protect privacy while giving the council more usable counts.
Several council members emphasized the program should connect transit or field triage to longer‑term care rather than become a substitute for clinic-based services. The city manager said he would form a committee of staff and council representatives and return recommended committee membership and proposed metrics at the next council meeting.
Why it matters: The telehealth vans are city-funded and were used to provide behavioral-health services to victims of recent wildfires. Council members said they need clear operational parameters and data to evaluate cost-effectiveness and determine whether the service should be continued or modified when one-time funding ends.
What’s next: The city manager will appoint staff and convene a committee to draft metrics, schedules, outreach plans and reporting formats and return recommendations to the council for approval.
