Drafter
Clerk 09/24/2024
Title
AN ORDINANCE establishing a workgroup to develop recommendations on modernizing public health - Seattle & King County clinic services and operations supporting the county hospital.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. As part of the county hospital, formed under Chapter 174, Laws of Washington 1925 ex.s., Harborview Medical Center ("Harborview") is now the region's a comprehensive health care facility, owned by King County and under the general supervision of the county hospital board of trustees. Since 1967, in accordance with the hospital services agreement between King County, by and through its executive and county hospital board, and the Regents of the University of Washington, Harborview has been operated by UW Medicine.
2. Harborview is the only Level 1 Trauma Center for adults and children serving a four-state region that includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Washington. It provides specialized care for a broad spectrum of patients. Harborview is maintained by King County to improve the health and well-being of the entire community and to provide quality healthcare to the most vulnerable.
3. Public health - Seattle & King County clinics ("public health clinics") provide direct services to an estimated 78,000 people annually at public health clinics and through mobile engagement sites, home visits, outreach events, and service points that are co-located within community-based organizations.
4. Like Harborview's mission population which is defined in the hospital services agreement, public health clinics provide accessible services to meet the needs of people historically underserved by the medical system including Black, indigenous, and people of color, those who speak a primary language other than English, those experiencing homelessness, and those who are uninsured.
5. Ordinance 19117 placed a $1.74 billion twenty-year bond on the November 3, 2020, ballot to fund facility and infrastructure improvements at Harborview. The ...

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