Santa Clara County has threatened private health care providers with fines for the first time over coronavirus testing, beefing up a previous mandate that officials say failed to adequately increase testing to a wider range of people as intended.
The new mandate will tighten regulations on local systems like Kaiser Permanente and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, requiring that they test all essential workers who seek it out, post information about testing in waiting rooms and websites, and return results to patients within three days, county health officials said Wednesday.
“There really is no excuse for large healthcare systems not to have stepped up,” said Supervisor Joe Simitian.
Back in June, the county mandated that private health systems expand testing to certain groups, like people who had been exposed to COVID-19. But it still wasn’t enough to fill in the gap: During the first week of September, for example, public sites tested more than 13,000 people, three times more than the next-largest tester, Kaiser, which tested just over 4,200 people.
Under the newest protocol, anyone who is symptomatic, has been exposed, referred by the county for testing, or is an essential worker regardless of symptoms must be provided a test within one to three days. Providers must also “conspicuously” advertise testing online and in person and stop any steps that slow down the process, like pre-screening appointments.
Providers that don’t comply meanwhile must pay up. The county will begin to apply an August ordinance to the testing requirements, meaning that providers could face a $5,000 fine for every violation such as turning away an essential worker, said County Counsel James Williams.
While fines are not unheard of for businesses and churches — including a Santa Clara church that racked up more than $100,000 for hosting indoor services — officials have previously sought “voluntary compliance” from health care organizations.
That approach was partially because health care professionals from Stanford Health Care and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation argued publicly that their inability to test comes down to supply chain issues and lab delays. But the county’s own robust testing scheme has proven that a flimsy explanation, officials said Wednesday.
“We know — since the county’s already delivering — that these are absolutely achievable objectives,” Williams said. “Our expectation is that there will be a real, full, meaningful commitment to compliance.”
Ten mayors from up and down Santa Clara County also weighed in to express their frustration. Some said they had seen health care workers frequenting public testing sites in their cities, or that they had struggled to get tested themselves.
“I checked just today on the Kaiser website. It is impossible to schedule a test,” said Saratoga Mayor Howard Miller, joking, “I may not be the smartest computer user — with a master’s in computer science from Stanford with twenty patents.”
The order goes into effect September 25th.
