County Names Interim Chief of Troubled Health Department

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday appointed a veteran health department manager to become interim director of the massive, troubled agency after its chief leaves office June 30.

Fred Leaf, a 29-year veteran of the department and currently chief of staff to outgoing Director of Health Services Mark Finucane, was appointed by supervisors after a discussion in executive session.

He will take over an agency that is almost perpetually in crisis, has lost many of its top managers in the last year and faces a projected deficit of more than $800 million in five years.

Before becoming chief of staff to Finucane, Leaf was head of internal investigations in the $2.4-billion-a-year agency.

Finucane resigned last month after a stormy five-year tenure during which he was repeatedly criticized by his bosses on the board for failing to cut the department’s budget. At the same time he had to contend with resistance from supervisors who wanted to preserve health operations in their districts.

Also departing with Finucane in June is the top official at County-USC Medical Center, Roberto Rodriguez. The county’s top medical officer, Dr. Donald Thomas, left in August amid fallout from a scandal involving the county’s relationship with a bankrupt chain of public health clinics.

Adding to the agency’s turmoil, supervisors had expected to begin making cuts in the department this spring to ensure minimal disruptions in services.

The health department has also revoked its contract with a major Eastside health clinic chain because the clinics were allegedly billing patients illegally. That forced clinic patients into other facilities in the already strained county system.