Cuts are coming, and mental health is the target.
Under the budget proposal for Santa Clara County for the fiscal
year beginning in July, reductions must be made in many areas to
cover the $172 million deficit, and mental health care is taking a
beating, but patients in South County will not be affected.
Cuts are coming, and mental health is the target.
Under the budget proposal for Santa Clara County for the fiscal year beginning in July, reductions must be made in many areas to cover the $172 million deficit, and mental health care is taking a beating, but patients in South County will not be affected.
For the seventh consecutive year, county officials have the difficult job of slashing millions of dollars from the county’s $4 billion budget. The latest proposal by County Executive Pete Kutras would cut about $8 million from mental health services.
Patients in other parts of the county will still be able to receive services, according to Joy Alexiou, public information officer for the Santa Clara Valley Hospital and Health System, but there will be changes.
“Most of the changes I know about are restructuring how things are staffed in EPS,” she said. “They are creating a system to triage, like is used in emergency rooms. For example, some of the patients might need something, but might not need to be admitted. Instead of admitting everybody that shows up, some might just need urgent care services.”
Another change for mental health care in other parts of the county is that patients may not be assigned a specific caseworker but will be served using drop-in services, she added. County officials are attempting to fill in most of next year’s $172 million deficit with one-time revenues or other maneuvers. A reorganization of Valley Medical Center is expected to yield $27 million in savings.
“Last year was when we saw a lot of consolidations, cuts, but this round, we managed to make our reductions and revenue savings … without any cuts in services,” Alexiou said.
The public hospital is building a facility in Gilroy.
“The Valley Health Center replaces the Valley Health Center in San Martin,” she said. “A lot of the folks who were receiving primary care services … we found were actually coming north from Gilroy, so this will be a benefit to most of our patients.”
During last week’s meeting, supervisors discussed the need for trimming the county budget, some expressing concerns about the governor’s May revise.
“We need leaders who will take a more mature and realistic approach to our problems,” Supervisor Blanca Alvarado said Tuesday.
