Minutes 10-12-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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everyone agreed to bring finance officers to talk in a more structured way. There are collaboration models, but the county lines bring challenges. Tony Whitaker said that he wanted to try and get a sense from the Board of County Commissioners about the priorities. Commissioner Hemminger said that the Board has not had a formal discussion about this yet. One of the priorities is to open a full-time clinic in the southern part of the County. She said that preventive health is definitely a priority and the Board of County Commissioners is waiting to hear from the BOH since they are on the front lines of healthcare. Chair Foushee echoed what Commissioner Hemminger said and said that the Board of Health should develop a strategic plan and then it can be better able to tell how the Health Department will be impacted by the reform. Commissioner Hemminger said that when the Board of Health came to the Board of County Commissioners for dental equipment, the Board of County Commissioners was able to respond, so the BOH needs to continue to bring needs forward. Frank Clifton said that it is apparent that the County is unlikely to purchase the Hillsborough Commons site. There is a lease arrangement there. He said that this does not address health facility needs, and as they move forward it is going to be incumbent on the County to provide health services since it is limited in facilities. He thinks that this discussion about facilities needs to be elevated. Dr. Carol Haggerty, a public health dentist, said that consolidation of resources is an important part of long-term delivery of sustainable care. A dental clinic that stays empty two days a week is a terrible drain on resources. Regarding prevention, she said that prevention dentistry is portable and cheap. Commissioner Pelissier said that there are two levels of priorities —the ideal level and the actual dollars in reality. She said that this is probably always going to be shifting. The County Commissioners need guidance from the BOH about the priorities and the needs. She made reference to mental health and said that she hopes that with the reform that it could be made more seamless to access mental health services. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to priorities and said that there has been discussion with Rosemary Summers and UNC Hospital about a possible partnership at Waterstone in Hillsborough. He thinks that this would have an impact on what services the County needs to carry and what would be feasible in the partnership. Rosemary Summers said that Orange County has a unique opportunity with the health science schools at the University— Dentistry, Public Health, Pharmacy, Medicine, and Nursing are all on the campus. This is the only hospital in the state with all of those in the same university system. She said that those five schools are going to be incredibly impacted by the need to boost the work force. There is not enough of any kind of healthcare professional to provide those services right now with this reform as it rolls out. She would like to develop an academic health center in partnership with these schools and she had a conversation with representatives from the schools, who all said that they would be happy to sit down and look at the options. She said that this is a natural partnership. 5. Closing Remarks Anissa Vines said that there are many challenges ahead and she appreciated Commissioner Pelissier's comments about the dollars. She said that the reality is that it may not be very different in 2014 than it is now financially. She said that the plans need to be based on what is realistic as well as what would be ideal. She thanked the County Commissioners for listening.