TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Is a new era beginning at Kern Health Systems?

When a member of the KHS staff suggested at a recent board meeting that the agency consider purchasing iPad tablet computers for each board member, virtually everyone on the board said no way, not a chance.

It was a telling moment.

It came after two years during which the KHS board and its former CEO Carol Sorrell had been the subjects of intense scrutiny and criticism for executive raises, a lack of proper fiscal oversight and a culture that seemed disconnected from the people KHS was created to serve.

Now the KHS board seemed to be saying in no uncertain terms, "Don't even go there."

The reaction may be indicative of something else: the maturity and cultural evolution of a board that has looked into the abyss and has no intention of repeating the experience.

"There is a cultural shift taking place at Kern Health Systems," said Steve Schilling, the director of Clinica Sierra Vista, one of the health care provider networks that contracts with KHS and provides medical care for its clients.

"Most of the board members are asking the right questions, seeking the right input," Schilling said, "but the cleansing and cleaning of that board still has to continue until it's finished -- and it's not finished yet."

Like a publicly funded health maintenance organization, KHS manages the health care of more than 100,000 low-income residents of Kern County.

Eventually, after months of turmoil, the Kern County Board of Supervisors demanded a series of reforms and changes, including the addition of five new board positions.

Sorrell resigned in June.

KHS Board Chairman Paul Hensler, who is also the CEO of Kern Medical Center, said KHS is now in a period of transition.

A search for a new CEO is well underway, but it's a lengthy process and Hensler doesn't expect that role to be filled until early 2012.

Hensler and others have noted that the board is focusing a lot of attention these days on its core mission, health care provider services and the patients KHS serves.

"Having 14 to 16 board members is pretty unwieldy," Hensler said, "particularly if those members want to be closely involved."

And it appears most of them do. That can make for long meetings and frustrations about the slow pace of progress.

But it's also viewed as an encouraging sign.

"Overall, I have been impressed by the quality of the individuals who have been appointed to the board," said Estella Casas, a KHS board member who was among the three or four who began demanding changes in 2009 and 2010.

Many of the newer members possess "a genuine desire to do what's right," Casas said.

Currently, two of the 16 board positions are vacant, but even with the vacancies, the board is larger than the 10 or 11 members the governing body had previously.

In recent weeks, Gordon Tanner and Bernita Jenkins have left the board. Longtime member and former Chairman Brian Komoto, the board's pharmacy representative, announced his resignation in September, but said he will stay until a replacement can be found.

The newest members are Peter Brandon, who was nominated by 1st District County Supervisor Jon McQuiston; Mariana Teel, nominated by 2nd District Supervisor Zack Scrivner; and Barbara Patrick, nominated by 4th District Supervisor Ray Watson.

Patrick served 12 years as a county supervisor. She retired from that board in 2006.

The two positions on the KHS board that remain vacant are rural physician representative and one of two community representatives from McQuiston's 1st District.

The monthly meeting time and location has also been changed. The board is moving back to its chambers on Stockdale Highway after meeting evenings at KMC. The new meeting times will be 8 a.m.

That's OK with Schilling, who acknowledged the move to KMC didn't appear to inspire members of the public to attend, as was the intent.

"But don't forget what you were told by the Board of Supervisors," Schilling said, as if speaking directly to the KHS board.

"Remember, you folks were acting like a detached elite in your luxury accommodations on Stockdale Highway," he continued.

"I don't give a damn where they meet," he said.

But the board cannot return to its old ways, Schilling argued. The board must not forget its recent past.

"Don't lose sight of that," he said.