Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Louise F. Rogers, Chief, San Mateo County Health
Scott Morrow, M.D., Health Officer, San Mateo County Health
Travis Kusman, MPH, Paramedic, Director, San Mateo County Health
Subject: Memorandum of Understanding for Emergency Medical and Health Disaster Response Mutual Aid and Mutual Assistance with Counties in California Outside of Region II
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing a California Statewide Memorandum of Understanding for Emergency Medical and Health Disaster Response Mutual Aid and Mutual Assistance with Counties in California outside of Region II.
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BACKGROUND:
The Medical Mutual Aid/Assistance system for California strictly follows the California Department of Public Health’s statewide Public Health and Medical Emergency Operations Manual (EOM). Compliant with the State Emergency Management System and the Incident Command System, the EOM dictates the pathway for situational awareness and resource requests during a disaster, from the event to the county/operational area, region, and state.
The County of San Mateo (County) belongs to California Medical Mutual Aid Region II (Region II). In addition to the County, the Region II operational areas and local public health jurisdictions are: the City of Berkeley, the City and County of San Francisco, and the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma.
The County signed an agreement between all Region II entities (Region II Agreement) on September 26, 2017 to formalize the medical and health mutual aid/assistance program within the region. Under this agreement, the Medical Health Operational Area Coordinator (MHOAC) program continues to function very well operationally. However, there remain barriers related to reimbursement for the associated emergency services provided. Currently, there is no agreement between the Counties and local health jurisdictions within California that provides for reimbursement of services rendered outside of one’s assigned region. This lack of a pre-event agreement may prevent an impacted county from obtaining needed resources and/or quickly qualifying for and obtaining potential recovery costs.
Medical and health mutual aid/assistance provided through coordination across regions is becoming a routine aspect of the response to major incidents in California, most recently including the Oroville Dam incident, Santa Rosa/Napa Fires, the Paradise Fire, the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, the mudslides in Montecito, the major fires in Redding and Mendocino County, Public Safety Power Shutoffs and the ongoing efforts associated with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
Since signing the Region II Agreement, the County has responded to major incidents and provided emergency medical and health support to operational areas within and outside of Region II. These services have included the provision of emergency ambulances, public health, environmental health and behavioral health services, as well as experienced incident management experts who have supported medical health department and county-level emergency operations center activities.
DISCUSSION:
This statewide Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would generally enhance the ability for impacted counties to request and unimpacted counties to provide resources during a disaster, as well as seek reimbursement in accordance with state and federal disaster relief requirements. It would enable an expedited process to access needed resources from outside of the existing regional medical and health mutual aid/assistance areas when necessary, thereby better serving the needs of those adversely impacted by large-scale and/or complex emergencies. Furthermore, it would provide a clear path to obtaining reimbursement for services rendered during an emergency.
Under the proposed MOU, in the event of a disaster when an impacted county requests assistance, counties and local health jurisdictions agree to provide emergency medical and health personnel, equipment, and supplies when they can. In addition, the assisting jurisdiction may request reimbursement from the impacted county for the emergency medical and health personnel, equipment, and supplies provided.
The MOU has been reviewed and approved by Health Officers and Emergency Medical Services Directors who are designated as the MHOAC statewide. The MOU and resolution have been reviewed and approved by County Counsel as to form.
It is anticipated that by end of FY 2019-20, 11 County Health divisions will receive an introductory overview of the new Statewide MHOAC guidelines.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE:
|
Measure |
FY 18-19 |
FY 19-20 |
|
Number of San Mateo County Health divisions that receive an introductory overview of the new Statewide MHOAC guidelines |
0 |
11 |
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with signing this MOU.