Approved Minutes of August 27, 2025

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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 27, 2025 S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agendas & Abstracts\2025 Agenda and Abstracts/ August Page 6 • Mr. Perschau highlighted accomplishments of the various divisions, including new funding partnerships in Community Health Services, increases in data in Environmental Health Services, increased service delivery in Personal Health Services including by hiring a new registered nurse to address STIs and increased promotion of the Diabetes Self-Management Education Program, and the mobile dental clinic providing ongoing service delivery for Dental Health Services during clinic renovations. • The forecast for FY2025-26 is for the Health Department to continue to promote approaches to increase service revenue and to keep an eye on funding and the Medicaid cost settlement process, as procedures around these may change amid future political upheaval. Ms. Stewart clarified that all Medicaid cost settlement funds are legally required to be used in the same program where they were generated. • Mr. Whitaker asked about how billing work queues and reimbursement strategies work, to which Mr. Perschau explained that it is very systematic and that the Financial and Administrative Services division is working to streamline the process. Mr. Whitaker inquired as to whether this is institutional knowledge or if a select few staff members know it, to which Mr. Perschau explained that they are working to document the procedures and train staff on how to use them. Dr. Pettigrew added that the current billing team only has billers, not coders; she explained that coders help fix errors and would likely prove more efficient and pay for themselves. Ms. Stewart shared that two staff members recently took a course on medical coding and learned a lot, though neither passed the certification exam. Mr. Whitaker asked if it would be possible for a region of health departments, such as Region 5, to share coders, to which Mr. Perschau replied that local health departments do share knowledge but generally not staff. Dr. Stuebe suggested some potential ideas to help streamline some of the Epic processes for billing, which Dr. Pettigrew expressed support for. • Dr. Jonnal asked about Medicaid cost settlement and how the Big, Beautiful Bill will impact the health department. Ms. Stewart explained that the Health Department receives an annual reimbursement from the State for provided Medicaid services every year and has used those reimbursements to set aside a fund of $12M for capital improvements and renovations at the Southern Human Services Center. She clarified that while those funds could potentially be used to support staff and provision of programs (it is mandated by law that Medicaid cost settlement funds must be used in the same program where they were generated) this would not be sustainable, and capital improvements are still being planned somewhere down the line. Mr. Perschau added that the Health Department would never turn anyone away for not having insurance and that self-pay and sliding-scale payments are available. C. BOH Policy Review Jean Phillips-Weiner, Board of Health Strategic Plan Manager, presented the proposed changes to Health Department policies for the 2025 BOH Annual Policy Review. The recommended policy changes are as follows: 1.0 Mission Statement and Scope of Services • No Changes. I.A. – Requests for Environmental Services and Assessments • Some minor updates throughout for readability. • Contemporized Environmental Health to focus this policy on the matters Environmental Health can address as opposed to every kind of possible environmental issue.