Listen to the Regents Health Services Committee of June 17, 2020

Yesterday, the Regents Health Services Committee met by teleconference. Public comments involved emergency law school certification ("diploma privilege"), obviously not within the purview of the Committee, and nurse staffing ratios.

The Committee heard a presentation on coronavirus trends and demography in California and medical training. Various coronavirus concerns about financing of a capital project at UC Davis were expressed, but the campus insisted the financing was not going to be a problem. There was a report about the experience of UC medical personnel who went to New York City to assist with the coronavirus situation and another report on UC personnel who went to the Navajo Nation.

The general thrust of a presentation on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on UC Health finance was that the effect was less than initially estimated and things are on track to get back to normal. It was said that the combination of lost revenue and added cost came to about $1.5 billion. There was then a listing of monies the system either has gotten from the federal government or has applied to get. Exactly how much of the $1.5 billion might ultimately be offset by federal funding was not clear.

There was concern expressed that with ongoing high unemployment, people would lose employer-based health insurance and end up on Medi-Cal (Medicaid) which has lower provider reimbursements. Some modeling has been done and the loss such a change in the type of coverage of the patient population could be significant.

Finally, it was argued that steps should be taken to encourage UC employees who have health coverage through their jobs to use UC facilities.

You can hear the Regents session below:

or direct to:
https://archive.org/details/regents-6-17-20-health-services-committee