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Committee advances transfer of administrative duties for catastrophic illness program
Summary
An ordinance to allow the Department of Public Health to delegate administrative functions of the catastrophic illness program (such as leave administration) to another department was forwarded after staff described program volume and a collaborative solution with DHR and the Controller’s Office.
The Rules Committee on Nov. 4 advanced an ordinance allowing the Department of Public Health to designate another department to carry out certain administrative functions for San Francisco’s catastrophic illness program.
Ron Weickett, human resources director for the Health Department, said the proposal grew from work begun in February 2012 with the Controller’s Office and the Department of Human Resources to improve program administration. The change would allow the Health Department to delegate administrative tasks where other departments (such as DHR) have stronger operational capacity while retaining clinical oversight with the medical director, Thomas Aragon.
Weickett described the arrangement as a collaborative solution. Staff provided usage figures: “35 members per month approximately. 25 new applications a month and we deny about 7,” Weickett said, indicating significant monthly volume. Committee members had no substantive objections to shifting administrative duties; Supervisor Katie Tang said the proposal “makes complete sense” and moved to forward the ordinance to the full Board with a recommendation. With no objection the motion passed.
The ordinance will be placed on the Board agenda for consideration; staff said the Health Department will remain responsible for the medical determinations while administrative tasks such as leave processing may be handled by DHR.
