Molina Announces County to Hire Independent Overseer for Health Department

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                       

CONTACT:  Roxane Marquez at (213) 974-4111 (office) or (213) 598-5463 (cellular)

 

GLORIA MOLINA ANNOUNCES COUNTY TO HIRE

INDEPENDENT OVERSEER FOR HEALTH DEPARTMENT

 

Monitor to Recommend Steps for Improving Accountability, Governance 

 

LOS ANGELES (December 16, 2008)—Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina announced today that the county will hire an independent entity to provide oversight of the Department of Health Services (DHS) and its key functions.  At today’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Molina and her colleagues authorized the county’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to release a Request for Qualifications to identify this contractor who will be charged with this task and will make recommendations to the board on how to improve the accountability, reliability, and governance of DHS.

“Independence is key for whomever we hire so that they have no incentive to sugarcoat anything,” Molina said.  “We must bring accountability to our health department.  I cannot and will not compromise the truth.  I am troubled that often we are not given the whole story by DHS, whether it is about Livescan information, nurse competency testing, or the status of Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital.  It was our lack of full knowledge on these and other matters—and there are many other examples—that brought us to this point today.  This should not be seen as an indictment of our current health department leadership but rather as a necessary tool for them and for the Board of Supervisors who are the governing body of this department.”

As part of Molina’s motion, the board specified that any proposals submitted for this position:

·         Should recommend and prioritize specific key departments and/or functions within DHS which are considered to be the most critical to be included in the analysis;

·         Should include a justification of why those departments and/or functions were selected as a priority;

·         Should list key team members who will work on the study and provide background describing each team member’s qualifications;

·         Should articulate why the entity is uniquely qualified to investigate, analyze, or verify the accuracy of issues or areas of concern as directed by the board on an as-needed basis.

All proposals will be presented to the CEO for review, evaluation, and final recommendation to the board.  Once this person or organization is selected, the supervisors will provide instruction and directives to them on any area of concern that they wish to be investigated, analyzed, or solved.

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