Health Service Board governance committee approves 2024 self‑evaluation and 2025 education plan; votes to hold and keep closed-session results private

The Health Service Board Governance Committee approved the board's 2024 self-evaluation report and unanimously adopted the board education report and education plan for 2025, and separately voted to hold — and to withhold disclosure of — a closed session on employee performance, committee leaders said.

Holly Lopez, board secretary, presented the self-evaluation results and the education report during the committee's March meeting. Committee Chair Zavansky called for motions and the committee voted by roll call; Chair Zavansky, Commissioner Howe and Commissioner Wilson recorded unanimous "aye" votes on both the self-evaluation and the education-plan motions. The committee also voted unanimously to convene a closed session to review the 2024 annual employee performance evaluation report, and later voted not to report or publicly disclose discussions from that closed session.

The self-evaluation presentation noted that six of seven board members completed the questionnaire (an 85% completion rate). The evaluation contained 32 scored questions; Lopez summarized that 30 scores declined year-over-year while two improved, and that the year was "transitional" after four new commissioners joined in June and had about six months in their seats when the survey was administered. Lopez said the evaluation process ran from December (timeline approval) and was conducted in January.

Lopez identified three priority follow-ups the committee recommended for the full board: reconsider onboarding and continuing-education timing (including the possibility of moving some education into the second year of service), provide a projected calendar of upcoming key decisions that complements the existing rates-and-benefits calendar, and have the governance committee review and revise specific evaluation questions in the fall.

On education, Lopez listed four education sessions offered in 2024: a fiduciary training, employer benefits presentations, the annual HIPAA training, and an update on the SFHS strategic plan. Commissioners discussed required citywide trainings and the Form 700/ethics filing, noting an April 1 completion deadline and that failure to complete can bar commissioners from voting. Commissioners ranked fiduciary training and a session on "high cost, high risk conditions" as top priorities for 2025, with health-plan integration systems (named in the discussion as "Brown and Tolan, Sutter, Altais" in the transcript) identified as a second-tier topic for deeper review.

The committee moved the self-evaluation report and education plan forward for final approval at the full board meeting on Thursday, per the committee recommendation. When the committee considered the employee performance evaluation, members voted to enter closed session and, after reconvening, voted twice to (1) not report on actions taken in closed session and (2) not disclose the substance of closed-session discussions. Each of those motions passed by unanimous roll call votes.

The meeting record shows repeated opportunities for public comment; staff reported no in-person speakers and zero remote callers on the phone line for the items discussed. Chair Zavansky adjourned the meeting at 2:12 p.m.

The committee did not adopt policy changes during this meeting; instead it moved reports and recommendations to the full Health Service Board for final action and implementation planning.