Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Louise F. Rogers, Chief, San Mateo County Health
Cassius Lockett, Director, Public Health, Policy and Planning
Subject: Public Health, Policy and Planning Fee Schedule Update
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution updating the Public Health, Policy and Planning Fee Schedule effective July 1, 2020.
body
BACKGROUND:
The San Mateo County Public Health, Policy and Planning Fee Schedule (Fee Schedule) includes fees charged by the Public Health Laboratory (PHL), Public Health Clinics, and Vital Statistics. Fee-based services include: clinical and environmental testing, vaccines, medical services, birth and death certificates, and Medical Marijuana identification cards.
On June 30, 2020, your Board approved a request made by Public Health, Policy and Planning (PHPP) to adopt the updated Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2020.
The fees charged are determined by considering the cost of providing services and the need to prevent fees from becoming a barrier to testing for communicable diseases. Some fees may be waived for persons determined to be at risk for transmitting a communicable disease on to others.
DISCUSSION:
The Fee Schedule is updated annually to add fees for new services, eliminate fees that are no longer necessary, and align fees with changing costs. A cost-based methodology is used for transparency and to help PHPP determine the financial viability of services. The fees do not exceed the cost of providing the product or the service of enforcing the regulation for which the fees are levied. The methods used to determine the fees for each program are as follows:
Health Clinic fees are determined by historical benchmarking. Some immunization fees are based on materials provided by external agencies. Fees for lab tests provided by the PHL are matched to the PHL fee schedule.
PHL fees are calculated by allocating annual lab expenditures based on staff time to complete each test, the price of test kits, the category of test for which supplies are used, and the volumes for each test. Individual tests of public health importance may be discounted by the Health Officer or PHL director.
Vital Statistics fees are mandated by the California Department of Public Health, with some portion going to the State Registrar and the remainder to the Vital Statistics program.
Based on historical client volumes, the total fees projected to go to the PHPP programs mentioned above for FY 2020-21 are at or below total expenditures.
With this amendment, there are no increases in fees, but PHPP is updating the Fee Schedule to include fees for tests and blood draws for Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, Mumps, Rubella, and Measles.
The resolution has been reviewed and approved by County Counsel as to form.
It is anticipated that 54,650 clinical and environmental PHL test orders will be completed on behalf of the public.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE:
|
Measure |
FY 2019-2020 Actual |
FY 2020-21 Estimated |
|
Number of clinical and environmental PHL test orders completed on behalf of the public |
42,927 PHL test orders |
63,725 PHL test orders* |
*Increase due to SARS-CoV-2 testing
FISCAL IMPACT:
The changes to the PHPP fee schedule are minimal and are will not generate additional revenue in FY 2020-21. These funds have been included in the PHPP FY 2020-21 Adopted Budget. There is no Net County Cost associated with the approval of this fee schedule.