As you may know, California’s recently adopted budget package calls for a May 19th special election.  Included on the ballot is Proposition 1E, which seeks to divert $460 million over two years from Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) revenues to the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program.

The acronyms are a mouthful, but what they stand for is important: MHSA was established through Proposition 63 in 2004 to expand and reform county mental health service systems targeting uninsured, homeless and low-income residents; EPSDT is the child health component of Medicaid that ensures a range of pediatric care for low-income children.

Both of these sound like services worthy of promoting, right?  Which is why I have trouble with the proposition: it scapegoats one underserved community (low-income adults with mental illness) for another (low-income children), and belies that fact that what we are really dealing with is another drastic cut to vital social services in California.

Groups like the California Mental Health Directors Association agree, and in a recent report detail why the proposition is bad news.

This month St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic joined the ranks of some of the leading healthcare innovators in the country by going paperless.  A transition several years in the works, the Clinic finally made the dramatic leap from old-school paper records to a new fully electronic medical records system.  The new system won’t just save space, it will revolutionize the way we care for our uninsured poor and homeless patients.

With less of an administrative burden, doctors will now have more time to provide direct care.  Quality of care will improve, as the new system includes immediate access to information that helps doctors make accurate clinical decisions, at the point of care.  And, we are now able to share important patient data across the citywide network of health clinics and hospitals in real-time, which will improve care for patients who move often and seek care from multiple sites.

The new electronic medical records system couldn’t have come to fruition at a better time, as in our new facility we are poised to offer more patient visits than ever.  I’m anticipating that these exciting innovations will help us meet the challenge of not only caring for more patients, but providing the best possible care to those most in need.

Change is certainly in the air with the new year. In case you haven’t noticed, St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic recently moved across the street into a brand new facility. The new clinic is larger, better designed and better equipped, and will enable us to treat an additional 5,000 patients per year. With increased seating capacity in our new pediatric waiting room, larger exam rooms, a private counseling room, and the greater capability to respond to medical emergencies, we will offer a calmer, more comfortable environment for our guests.

The change is certainly a welcome one for patients who will benefit from the new clinic’s expanded capacity and services, and for the staff who’ve been working out of a converted garage space for the past 50+ years. Our therapists, who have moved from a glorified broom closet to a large counseling room with windows, couldn’t be happier. All the clinic staff seem to share a collective feeling of excitement and enthusiasm about the new space. We are all looking forward to a future of hope and healing for the poor and homeless guests we serve.