Few details, little clarity after Shasta County board presentations on healthcare and elections

Chriss Street is a former Orange County treasurer who ran a managed healthcare company 25 years ago. Earlier this year, he was hired by the Shasta County board as a consultant on a six-month healthcare consulting contract to determine how to best address a known shortage in local healthcare providers.

Tuesday, Street offered his final presentation to the board. His recommendations, which were updated after the board’s packet was released late last week, included information from a prior presentation emphasizing the low number of providers in Shasta County. How the county can effectively address that problem remains uncertain.

Street’s final board recommendations call on the county to attain designations as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HSPA) and Medically Underserved Area (MUA). As speakers noted during public comment, many parts of Shasta are already listed as either an HSPA or MUA — some have been for decades, with more being added in the past several years.

Speaking to Shasta Scout by phone after the meeting, Street agreed that parts of the county have already been listed as MUA or HSPA regions, but emphasized that the county as a whole has not. Street repeated what he had told the board, saying he looked up his own residential address on a government site over the weekend, and it’s now listed as medically underserved, something he sees as progress.

He said his assessment of local healthcare provider numbers indicate that Shasta qualifies at a “crisis level,” putting the county in an “extraordinary position where we’ve now accessed about $16 billion in funds for grants, residency and a medical school.” Federal funding sources listed in his report include federal medical education funding sources and California’s Song Brown Program.

Questioned on how he knows the county now qualifies for new funding sources, Street told a Shasta Scout reporter “you’re debating facts that you know are facts,” before hanging up on them. 

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is the agency that designates areas as medically underserved. Applications for designation are submitted by State Primary Care Offices (PCO). Street made no mention of whether he has spoken to California’s PCO over the past few months about designating the whole county as medically underserved.

Street’s initial scope of work included a requirement to produce a shovel-ready solution that identified state and federal grants for initial project costs and proposed solutions for ongoing sustainable revenue. His term as consultant ends today, Aug. 20. 

Increasing local medical educational opportunities

Street also recommended that the county designate a representative to engage with a local coalition that’s forming around working to expand educational pathways — something that could potentially result in a medical school. Supervisors agreed informally that newly appointed Health and Human Services Agency Director Christy Coleman should represent the county in that role.

The coalition would include Chancellor Norman Hall from Simpson University, who has expressed interest to the board in participating in a collaborative medical school project. Redding Council Member Dr. Paul Dhanuka would also be part of the still-forming coalition, as would others. After Plummer noted that UC Davis also expressed interest in possibly locating a regional branch in Shasta, Dhanuka told the board no definitive decision has been made yet to work with Simpson and all options remain open.

The board’s only vote after Street’s presentation was to bring back an unrelated item suggested by Plummer.  At a future meeting, the board will consider spending about $20,000 in opioid settlement funds to offer a signing bonus for county psychiatrist and psychologist positions. If the plan works, it would save the county money. But it doesn’t provide any additional services for those affected by substance use, beyond what the county is already required to provide.

Clint Curtis fails to gain approval for $125,000 budget amendment 

Shasta County’s newly appointed election official pitched a much-amended budget request to the board this week. He asked for $125,000, or about 5% of the $2.6 million he requested last week. Both times, Curtis told supervisors that approving his budget would allow him to implement new procedures for ballot processing, something he claims will increase trust in elections.

Curtis’ proposal involves bringing in observers to more closely monitor the process while livestreaming much of the ballot-counting process. As before, Curtis’ budget request this week was short on specifics, including only vague categories of spending. He said cameras donated from Texas represent one cost-saving measure he’s implemented to lower his overall budget. No such donation has come before the board for approval yet.

Supervisors Long and Plummer both declined to approve Curtis’ budget request again this week, with Long doubting that Curtis has enough time before November’s election to launch a successful new ballot processing model. Plummer said he’d consider approving the request but would need to see a more detailed plan.

Passing a budget amendment requires a four-fifths vote, meaning at least four of the five board supervisors need to approve the changes. Curtis was encouraged to return to the board with more specifics on how he’ll spend the budget needed to implement his vision for running elections in hopes of gaining approval. 

Other board business 

Two organizations that have been granted $4 million in opioid funds over the next 4 years to reduce youth substance use provided their first report back to the board. Few specifics were shared beyond the normal operational reports of both organizations.  

A representative from the lead organization, Raising Shasta, responded to questions from Plummer by saying much of the work related to the county’s contract with the two organizations has occurred behind the scenes so far. She said a coalition of substance use responders have come to agreement on a survey that will be used to track progress on preventing substance use among youth. 

---

Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.