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Committee hears proposal to double EMS penalty assessment; SFGH seeks $789,715 reprogramming for inventory system upgrade
Summary
Committee reviewed an ordinance to raise an EMS penalty assessment (doubling the per-$10 assessment from $2 to $4) and a Department of Public Health request to reprogram $789,715 at San Francisco General for a proprietary McKesson inventory/purchasing system upgrade; public health and emergency medicine speakers supported the measures.
The committee considered two health-related budget measures Tuesday: an ordinance to increase an EMS penalty assessment on criminal fines and a Department of Public Health request to reprogram $789,715 at San Francisco General Hospital to upgrade its materials and supplies inventory and purchasing system.
Michael Petrie, the department administrator, said the ordinance would double the statutory assessment that currently allocates about $523,000 annually to the EMS fund; raising the per-$10 assessment from $2 to $4 would raise receipts to approximately $1,046,000 per year. Petrie said roughly 58% of the revenue pays physicians and surgeons for uncompensated medical care and disproportionate-share hospitals receive about 25%; 17% would fund EMS system projects.
Dr. Keith Loring, an emergency physician who works at San Francisco General and other hospitals, urged support: “I urge that you support, increasing this fee and this fund... on behalf of the patients that we take care of who can't afford care in any other setting,” he told supervisors.
Cathy Jen, an administrator at San Francisco General, described the request to reprogram $789,715 already budgeted for equipment to instead pay for a McKesson inventory and purchasing system upgrade. She warned that the existing system (in place since 1997) is proprietary and the vendor will withdraw support without an upgrade, risking a system crash that could disrupt procurement, inventory control and revenue capture. McKesson offered a discount of roughly 63% (approximately $789,000) for the upgrade as an existing customer; the hospital plans to request the balance (~$549,187) in next year’s equipment budget. The facilities advisory board approved the reprogramming.
Supervisors asked for clarifications about prior equipment purchases and estimated ongoing maintenance costs; staff said some items were purchased in 05/2006 and that annual maintenance (~$138,000) would be requested in future DPH budgets.
Next steps: The items remained under committee consideration; supervisors indicated support in principle but requested budget and procurement clarifications before final passage.
