Who
- Northern Sierra Section leaders
What
The Northern Sierra Section of the Hospital Council met on Sept. 13 in Redding. The meeting had almost 100% attendance and included a lively discussion with considerable feedback on how the recent seismic and minimum wage proposal played out. There is much concern about the negative impact of minimum wage mandates on the ability of many hospitals to serve their communities. Workforce challenges remain significant, and many concerns were voiced about changes and challenges with Medi-Cal and California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, particularly in rural areas where many of the proposed whole-person-care types of services to be funded do not exist. A presentation on the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) left many seeing increased cost pressure without any revenue relief, an untenable position that the OHCA would seemingly lock in. A presentation on hospital volunteer programs highlighted the ability of volunteers to help with current workforce challenges and also included resources available from CHA on best practices and statewide trends.