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Large public opposition as DPH presents proposed cuts to HIV, behavioral health services
Summary
At a public hearing required under budget law, the Department of Public Health outlined planned contract reductions and a reorganization that would close one skilled nursing unit and shift services; community groups and clients urged the board to restore federal shortfalls, notably $3 million in HIV funding, and voiced concerns about impacts on L
The San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) outlined proposed reductions and a reorganization of behavioral health services during a required public hearing, prompting sustained public testimony opposing cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and care, substance use treatment and mental-health services.
DPH Director Barbara Garcia described two broad drivers of change: federal reductions in HIV/AIDS and TB funding and internal efforts to prepare the department for health-care reform by shifting resources toward revenue-generating services. She told the board the department planned a new competitive procurement process (an RFP) that would reduce an identified community services base and would close one of two skilled nursing units on the San Francisco General Hospital campus, then reorganize the services that support discharges from the hospital. "These will be proposed by an $8,800,000 reduction in fiscal year '14–'15 that annualizes into $17,600,000 in 2015–16," Garcia said, and noted additional federal cuts in HIV funding totaling about $3 million that remained unbackfilled in the mayor’s proposal.
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