$700,000 Increase OKd for 2 Mental Hospitals

San Diego County’s troubled mental health program on Tuesday got a budget boost described by one county official as what was needed to run a “first-class facility.”

The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously without discussion to approve a $700,000 increase for the county’s Hillcrest and Loma Portal mental hospitals.

The money will pay for 62 new employee positions, from psychiatrists to nurses to record keepers.

“These staff additions will provide us what we think is necessary to run a first class facility,” said David Janssen, the county’s acting chief administrative officer. “The question we will have to address down the line is whether we can afford to run a first class facility.”

Janssen said he hoped the changes would help persuade federal health officials not to cut off Medicare and Medi-Cal funding for the hospitals. State health regulators have already recommended that the funds be stopped because of deficiencies in the county’s record-keeping at the two hospitals.

Eighteen of the new positions--a registered records administrator, a medical records technician and 16 medical records clerks--will address that need.

Among the other additions:

--Three employees for quality assurance;

--Six clinical nurse specialists for work in screening patients for admittance to the hospitals;

--Thirteen staff nurses, including one head staff nurse, to provide for registered nurses in the screening unit 24 hours a day, seven days a week;

--Five licensed vocational nurses to provide patient care, observe and report changes in patients’ condition, and supervise patients while they are in the screening unit;

--Thirteen licensed vocational nurses to replace the use of pool nurses, extra help and overtime;

--A chief nurse and an assistant chief nurse to provide separate nursing administration for Hillcrest and Loma Portal;

--A staff psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist and a psychiatric social worker;