Health Fee
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a slate of fee hikes tied to Riverside County Department of Public Health services, under a fee schedule revised to reflect inflation-driven impacts to the agency.
In a 3-0 vote — with Supervisors Yxstian Gutierrez and Chuck Washington absent — the board formally signed off on the adjustments, which will take effect on May 1.
Department of Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari said the Auditor- Controller’s Office had scrutinized the proposal and determined the new rates were “equitable and reasonable to recover the cost of providing services.”
“These new and revised public health program fees are necessary to meet the on-going operational and maintenance costs of providing public health program services to Riverside County residents,” according to an agency statement posted to the board’s agenda.
In a few instances, fees have been put forward where none existed previously. For the department’s “mobile team vaccines” service, the cost of administering a Gardisil human papillomavirus 9 variant inoculation will go from zero to $330. Similarly, to receive the Boostrix TDAP vaccine via a mobile clinic will cost $50, where there was no charge before. Any mobile vaccination clinic service will additionally include administration fees — ranging from $2 to $90, depending on economic hardship — which haven’t been charged in the past.
To obtain a “dog importation health certificate,” the department will in the future charge $26 for the service. There was previously no cost attached to the certificate.
A number of laboratory processing fees will be increased. A tuberculosis culture analysis will go from $20 to $50, while a basic “culture for identification” will jump from $17 to $50. An HIV antibody screening will go from $28 to $36.12, and the cost of an HIV-1 and HIV-2 genus confirmation will be raised from $46 to $58.06.
The new up-front cost for procuring any medical documents loaded onto a CD, such as images of X-rays and CT scans, will be $25. In the past, this was a complimentary service provided by the department.
Health insurance providers, including government-subsidized Medi-Cal, will likely pick up many of the new expenses, though co-pay costs were unknown.
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