County leaders have 3.8 million reasons to salute El Camino Hospital District

With an official Resolution, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors today recognized the successful partnership between the El Camino HospitalDistrict (ECHD) and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) in providing medical and dental services for uninsured families at Valley Health Center (VHC) Sunnyvale. The resolution was presented by Supervisor Liz Kniss, whose District is served by VHC Sunnyvale.

Over the past three years, ECHD has donated a total of $3.8 million to underwrite otherwise un-funded services at VHC Sunnyvale to help nearly 14,000 patients receive cost-effective primary care and dental services, avoiding inevitable emergent medical and dental crises that would require significantly more money to treat. El Camino Hospital District and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center have been developing programs and support systems as part of readying the County for health care reform. An important element of the partnership is fully developing the “patient-centered medical home” model in which all care is provided in one place, by a team of health care providers.

“This support has empowered VHC Sunnyvale to build a medical home and that’s key because patients are getting all the care they need in one stop,” said Chris Wilder, Valley Medical Center Foundation’s Executive Director. “When we and El Camino Hospital District team up to provide care for patients, we are improving health outcomes, and reducing trips to the emergency room and return trips to doctors.”

Recent cuts in California’s state budget have resulted in reductions in coverage for critically important preventive services for Santa Clara County residents using Medi-Cal, leaving many more people without health care coverage.

“This wonderful partnership allows us to improve the health of our communities with patient-centered healthcare to bring prevention, wellness, and easy access to health to our community members,” said Barbara Avery, El Camino Hospital’s Director of Community Benefit.  “We are honored that Supervisor Kniss recognized the importance of this partnership and how it is truly a model collaboration between a public health system and a non-profit hospital district.”

About the El Camino Hospital District
The ECHD was established by voter approval in 1956 in accordance with California Local Hospital District Law. ECHD oversees and approves ECHD tax-dollar expenditures, including expenditures for the Community Benefit Plan, which provides critical heal services to the underserved. All ECHD tax dollar expenditures are reviewed and approved at regular meetings of the District Board. ECHD’s independently audits financials are certified each year by a third party accounting firm in compliance with standard, legal accounting practices. All District and Hospital Board meetings are publically noticed, open to the public and video-taped.  \All of this information is available for public review on the ECHD web-site: http://www.elcaminohospitaldistrict.org.