Committee backs DPH and HSH funding actions: CalAIM consulting grant, Chinese Hospital amendment and DPH overtime shift

The Budget & Finance Committee moved three Department of Public Health (DPH) and Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) items to the full Board with positive recommendations.

HSH presented a $341,000 retroactive grant from the San Francisco Health Plan to fund consulting and IT work to enable HSH and provider partners to bill Medi‑Cal for eligible services under CalAIM; staff said implementation will enable billing in the next fiscal year and that HSH will return with reimbursement projections.

DPH described an amendment to a contract with Chinese Hospital to purchase up to 23 skilled nursing beds. Kelly Hiramoto said Chinese Hospital secured a state skilled‑nursing license in June and hired a consultant to pursue CMS certification; until federal certification and SNF subacute licensure are complete the city pays an interim higher rate. DPH revised its request to increase the not‑to‑exceed amount to $20,638,800 to cover potential delays and higher contingency.

DPH CFO Jenny Liu presented a budget‑neutral reappropriation: shifting vacancy savings and regular salary authority into overtime to comply with the city's overtime ordinance. The request increases DPH overtime authority to $71.6M; BLA recommended approval but flagged this as a recurring structural issue requiring review of hiring and workforce models, notably for nursing positions driving overtime.

The committee forwarded items 6 and 8 to the full Board with recommendation and accepted the BLA amendment to item 7 and continued item 7 to Dec. 6 for finalization of the amended resolution.