The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to push through a mid-year budget package that carves deep into the county health system, a move officials say is necessary to absorb sweeping federal funding cuts under H.R. 1. The plan orders hundreds of millions of dollars in budget changes and staffing deletions across departments as the county braces for multi-year shortfalls, even as leaders insist they are trying to shield core patient care from the worst of the damage.
What the board approved
The board’s mid-year action launches roughly $183 million in reductions at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare and deletes 365 full-time equivalent positions, most of them vacant, while directing operational changes intended to preserve essential…..