Report 2019-105 Recommendation 13 Responses
Report 2019-105: Childhood Lead Levels: Millions of Children in Medi-Cal Have Not Received Required Testing for Lead Poisoning (Release Date: January 2020)
Recommendation #13 To: Public Health, Department of
To ensure a more equitable distribution of resources for treating children with lead poisoning, CDPH should, by June 2020, update its methodology for allocating funds to local prevention programs, including accounting for the most recent annual count of children with lead poisoning in each jurisdiction. CDPH should revise the allocations before each contract cycle.
1-Year Agency Response
CDPH updated the local prevention program funding methodology allocations based on the most recent case data available, including the count of children with lead poisoning in each jurisdiction in June 2020. As a result, CDPH has awarded a total of $2.0 million additional funding to 16 counties. CDPH will assess the burden of cases across counties before each contract cycle to ensure the funding allocations are equitable. The CDPH policy memorandum attached describes the protocols for equitable distribution of resources to contracted local prevention programs.
- Completion Date: July 2020
- Response Date: January 2021
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented
6-Month Agency Response
CDPH updated the local prevention program funding methodology allocations based on the most recent case data available, including the count of children with lead poisoning in each jurisdiction. CDPH will assess the burden of cases across counties before each contract cycle to ensure the funding allocations are equitable.
- Completion Date: July 2020
- Response Date: July 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented
CDPH updated the data used in its allocation of funds for local programs; however, it has not yet provided evidence of a policy to update the allocations before each contract cycle.
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
60-Day Agency Response
In October 2019, CDPH conducted an analysis for allocating funds to local prevention programs and included accounting of the most recent annual count of children with lead poisoning in each jurisdiction. CDPH is currently exploring fiscal mechanisms to increase its funding allocation for local prevention programs based on this analysis. CDPH will annually review the number of children with lead poisoning and ensure funding allocations remain equitable based on burden.
- Estimated Completion Date: July 1, 2020
- Response Date: March 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2019-105
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.