Approved Minutes of August 27, 2025

Browse Search

MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 27, 2025 S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agendas & Abstracts\2025 Agenda and Abstracts/ August Page 5 • Commissioner Fowler commented that even if the vaccine costs aren’t covered by the insurance company, the liability to the provider may be curbed so long as the provider is following a standard of care that is aligned with an overseeing organization’s recommendations (e.g., the American Pediatric Association’s vaccine guidelines). • In response to Dr. Royce’s question, Dr. Pettigrew said that potential complications related to receiving the COVID vaccine such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) are not tracked at the local level. Dr. Pettigrew commented that it is very worrisome that data and experts at the federal level are being restricted, as this makes it much harder to conduct good public health at the local level. • Dr. Stuebe shared a breaking news headline from the New York Times that the CDC director has left the organization abruptly. • Dr. Royce asked about the wording of the purpose of the Communicable Disease branch of the Orange County Health Department, which did not include anything about prevention. Dr. Pettigrew noted that there are multiple other branches of the Health Department focused on prevention. Ms. Stewart added that the language likely came from the Health Department’s agreement addenda with the state government, which are infrequently updated; she said that she had made a note that these should be revised to include prevention. B. 4th Quarter Financial Reports Frederick Perschau, Financial and Administrative Services Director, presented the 4th Quarter Financial Reports for FY2024-25. Some highlights of his presentation are below: • Mr. Perschau reminded the Board that the aim each year is to use up the annual budget, and that this year was better for this than some prior years. • Service revenue, or revenue generated by services provided to community members, is something that the Health Department can influence or increase. • Mr. Perschau provided an overview of the annual revenue and drew attention to a spike in May due to Medicaid cost settlement reconciliation. • Environmental Health Services revenue remained relatively stable. • Dental Health Services resolved the data breach from FY2023-24 that prevented Dental Services from collecting Medicaid payments, leading to resources being recovered in October. However, Dental Health Services still came in a little under the projected revenue in part due to staffing shortages. • Personal Health Services saw an increase in revenue. They have a team focused specifically on revenue/billing, leading to a rise in the total number of billing transactions and an increase in “clean claims,” or claims submitted without any errors or other issues, such as incomplete documentation. • Community Health Services saw an increase in revenue, but Mr. Perschau said that it can be hard to predict trends when working with the populations served by this division. • Financial and Administrative Services have been working to improve the Epic billing and vital records processes. Additionally, Dominika Gazdzinska, Community Records Specialist, has begun a semi-annual newsletter, The Vital Chronicles, providing updates about state and local changes for funeral homes. Mr. Perschau provided copies of the most recent newsletter to the Board members for their review. Ms. Stewart commended Ms. Gazdzinska and shared that she had recently attended a conference where she learned and brought back a lot of good ideas, including this new newsletter. Dr. Jonnal applauded the newsletter and said that she regularly sees bereaved patients struggling and she thinks something like this could help reduce stress at a painful time.