Dan Tsai Named San Francisco Public Health Director
Who
What
On Feb. 11, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie appointed Dan Tsai as the new public health director, replacing Grant Colfax, MD.
On Feb. 11, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie appointed Dan Tsai as the new public health director, replacing Grant Colfax, MD.
Hospitals in Santa Clara County met with the newly elected member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Betty Duong — the first relationship-building opportunity with Supervisor Duong and her staff. Conversation topics included ambulance patient offload times, Senate Bill 43 (2023), and the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA).
The Redwood Coast CEOs held their first section meeting of the year, centering discussions on the financial stability of rural hospitals amid potential changes to government reimbursement. Pat Blaisdell, vice president, policy, for the California Hospital Association (CHA), provided an overview of the Vitality Index Payer Scorecard and CHA’s insurer accountability efforts, and she led a discussion on post-acute care needs in Humboldt County.
On Feb. 12, Hospital Council is hosting its regular meeting of Central Valley liaison officers, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a method for hospital incident command system liaison officers to share information to the public health department.
After being closed for six months, Sonoma County’s crisis stabilization unit (CSU) reopened for patient care on Feb. 8.
Hospitals have worked diligently, innovatively, and collaboratively to improve ambulance patient offload times (APOT) in 2024. With a state-highest collective APOT of 73 minutes in December 2023, area hospitals achieved a dramatic improvement over a 12-month period, dropping to 27 minutes in December 2024.
San Francisco Public Health Director Grant Colfax, MD, announced his resignation, effective Feb. 7. Deputy Director of Health Naveena Bobba, MD, MPH, will serve as acting director in the interim. In his note to the section CEOs, Dr. Colfax expressed his appreciation for hospitals’ collaboration and partnership with SFDPH, particularly over the course of the pandemic.
The managed care organization (MCO) tax will bring billions to Medi-Cal providers for years to come, and with the passage of Proposition 35, the dollars will go where intended.
As we enter the new year, we have experienced turnover not only in hospital leadership, but also in county and state government. Over the next few months, hospital leaders throughout the South Bay will focus on meeting several new county supervisors and elected officials.
Hospital Council is coordinating a joint Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) report for Fresno, Madera, Tulare, and Kings counties.