The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved the county budget this week, including $4 million for the Medical Services Initiative (MSI) Hospital Pool approved earlier on a unanimous straw vote providing direction to staff. The vote on the overall budget was 4-1.

Once they are matched with federal dollars in the Medi-Cal Waiver’s coverage expansion program (the Low Income Health Program), the new funds will increase hospital payments from an average of 28 cents to the dollar of actual cost, to an average of 38 cents to the dollar of actual cost. This successful outcome was the result of strong collaboration among HASC, members of the HASC MSI Committee, and hospital CEOs who participated in the advocacy effort.