Management and Performance Review of County Government ...

Health & Welfare/Library/Veterans Services of Jefferson County
The fiscal impact includes contract amount of $50 an hour for a physician
assistant. The physician assistant contract position is proposed to be phased in from
half-time in fiscal year 2006 to full-time in fiscal 2010.
RECOMMENDATION 5-2:
Negotiate contracts with providers in Beaumont and Port Arthur for laboratory
and x-ray services.
Jefferson County has made its contract with UTMB work to its advantage. The
county has no such contract, however, with local providers of emergency services and
laboratory and x-ray services. The county has preferred providers for both units, and
HWD should attempt to negotiate better rates with them on an annual contractual basis.
IMPLEMENTATION
HWD should negotiate with the two providers that receive most referrals from its
clinics, Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont and Christus St. Mary Hospital in
Port Arthur. These negotiations should be conducted by the administrator and medical
director and would require some analysis of how services are referred. Negotiation of the
contract should include efficient processes such as automatic forwarding of x-rays, for
instance.
FISCAL IMPACT
While some savings should result from a negotiated contract, laboratory and x-ray
services do not make up a large share of the total cost of health care services
outsourced. A contract with streamlined and well-defined processes and procedures
mostly would help make the referral process more efficient.
Library
The Jefferson County Library (JCL) is located in the mid-county area, in a building
housing other county offices as well, such as a County Commissioner’s office and an
Environmental Services office. The library itself occupies 2,255 square feet of space with
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