California counties that have refused to sign the state’s new COVID-19 vaccine program administered by Blue Shield of California must instead reach a separate agreement with the state to end a stalemate that threatened to delay vaccine delivery. .
Blue Shield President Paul Markovich said on Friday that counties were concerned about signing the vaccine distribution contract with a private company, which was a requirement for all vaccine providers who wish to continue receiving doses in California. under the new program. A California Department of Public Health spokesman confirmed the change.
“They are much more comfortable with an agreement with the state, which is good for us, as long as there is an agreement that they will participate in the performance management system that allows us to fulfill the performance in our contract,” said Markovich in one call reporters on Friday. “It should be fine.”
Markovich said the agreement between the state and the counties should be finalized soon to “avoid disruptions”. It is unclear what changes will be made to a memorandum of understanding between counties and the state, and how they may differ from the contract provisions initially required by Blue Shield.
Counties are at a standstill for weeks with the state and Blue Shield over California’s decision to hand over vaccine delivery decisions to the private insurer. Los Angeles County officials were the last to request the possibility of canceling the Blue Shield contract, highlighting concerns about outsourced oversight of distribution.
On Friday, only Kern County signed a contract with Blue Shield, and Markovich said he expects all other counties to sign directly with the state. Markovich said the change would not affect vaccine allocation decisions on which the state sets priorities on which the insurer bases its algorithm to determine where to send the doses. In the redesigned vaccine program administered by Blue Shield, allocations are also made based on the effectiveness of vaccine suppliers in administering vaccines.
This configuration bypasses the previous state system, in which doses sent to the state by the federal government were distributed to municipalities and municipalities, so it determined where the doses should go.
“The state, as part of the transition to a system where it allocates vaccines directly to specific providers, is working with counties to finalize the writing to remember their continued role as vaccine providers,” said Darrel Ng, communications consultant for COVID- from California. 19 Vaccine Task Force. “We look forward to continuing to work with counties to vaccinate Californians in an equitable and efficient manner.”
Governor Gavin Newsom announced significant changes to California’s vaccine delivery system in January, after widespread criticism that the state was too slow in delivering vaccines. The Newsom administration chose Blue Shield as an independent supervisor of California’s COVID-19 vaccine supply chain, with the governor saying that the private insurer would simplify the state’s fragmented system and create “more efficient distribution, speed, equity and transparency with vaccines “.
As of Friday, 92 vaccine suppliers have signed a contract with Blue Shield to operate more than 1,300 vaccine sites across the state, according to the insurer.
The state signed a separate agreement with Kaiser Permanente, allowing the health care system to oversee its own dose distribution at additional vaccination sites, regardless of Blue Shield’s supervision.
It is unclear what will happen if a county refuses to sign the Blue Shield contract or memorandum of understanding with the state, but it could result in local public health agencies in these areas being cut off from future vaccine allocations. In this case, the vaccines would still be available in the municipality through other suppliers, such as pharmacies, hospitals or clinics that signed the contract with Blue Shield.
Blue Shield is scheduled to assume full responsibility for managing the state network by March 31. In the meantime, counties will continue to receive the vaccine, regardless of whether they have signed agreements with the state or Blue Shield.
Newsom characterized some of the counties’ resistance as a natural aversion to change, but local government officials said making changes midway through would cause disruption to the vaccine delivery system.
“I think all counties now feel like they have really strong public health departments, with a lot of experience and knowledge about creating and executing vaccination programs,” said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, on Tuesday.
Los Angeles County Council of Supervisors President Hilda Solis and President Pro Tem Holly Mitchell asked the county to be exempt from Blue Shield supervision in a March 2 letter to Newsom. They wrote that Blue Shield employees “have not demonstrated an adequate understanding of the unique needs and characteristics of Los Angeles County, its diverse population and where our residents seek medical attention.”
Santa Clara County said it does not plan to sign a contract directly with Blue Shield. Ventura County has also asked the state to opt out of the new system.
Barry Zimmerman, deputy chief director of the county health agency, said state officials and Blue Shield officials told Ventura County that opting out altogether was not an option. In addition, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors requested that the county council explore options for excluding the “tremendous bureaucratic system” that supervisors said would be implemented under the Blue Shield.
The contract with Blue Shield has caused concern since it was first sent to vaccine suppliers. The University of California health care system said the initial Blue Shield contract sought a large amount of medical data. The system signed the contract after changes were made to it.
The state is demanding that counties use its My Turn nomination system, which has been plagued by complaints of faults and compatibility issues for the past two weeks.
Critics of the scheduling system complained that it is not possible to reserve vaccines for people living in underserved communities, one of the main components of the state’s efforts to ensure that doses are distributed equitably. Vaccine vendors said they would create unnecessary additional work by requiring information to be entered twice – on their own systems and on My Turn. Others said that an online naming system does not work to reach some communities and groups most affected, such as farm workers.
The state continued to drive the system forward, saying that 1 million appointments scheduled with My Turn were completed in seven weeks and that the site will increasingly play a key role in California’s focus on ensuring fairness of the vaccine.
Markovich said on Friday that more than half of the county’s health agencies are using the My Turn system or will be in less than a week.