Supervisors of the Los Angeles County have voted last Tuesday to merge three health-related departments that deal with physical health, mental health and broader public health issues into a single agency.
According to the report of Los Angeles Times, the move was made to create a more proficient system and to help better harmonize patient care, who at present, need to deal with three different bureaucracies.
The three health departments will continue to function as different and will have their own budgets and directors, but they will be under a single umbrella in the new model.
The merger is also a way to eliminate red tape for patients. In the past, patients needs to register multiple times with different county agencies to receive services, but with the new model, they only need to be registered once for the three health departments. Supervisors also expect to have a better and easier record-sharing between the departments once they are merged.
Mitch Katz, director of the Department of Health Services and the top contender for the executive position of the new agency, said that the merger will bring about a new management structure that will be more efficient and effective.
"It's always my belief that by working together, things cost less, not more," he said. "We haven't taken on any responsibilities that the county doesn't already have... It's my hope that we have not taken on anything that is greater than our ability to handle," the director added.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Tomas stressed that saving money has never been the intention of the re-organization. "The main purpose is to have better patient care, better outcomes for communities," he said. "The systems will talk to each other effectively. That hasn't been the case," the supervisor stressed.
The head of the new agency has not yet been decided upon by the board, nor of the possibility that the head can also be a director to the three departments within the new organization.
