California Department of State Hospitals
Editor’s note: Following is one in an ongoing series of profiles of the largest California state government agencies.
For the 2017-18 fiscal year, the California Department of State Hospitals (DSH), a department with over 10,000 employees, has been allocated about $1.6 billion. The department’s IT budget is $46 million.
The goal of the DSH is to provide safe treatment for people who have been ordered for treatment by either a criminal or civil court judge. The goal of its IT department is to provide the right solutions at the right times to facilitate that.
Over the next six years, DSH will be building a platform designed to improve security and access to data, increase employee productivity, automate and share business processes and support evidence-based decisions, according to the department’s CIO, Rogene Sears.
With a budget of $11 million, the DSH Technology Services Division (TSD) is helping to implement the Enhanced Treatment Program (ETP) at the Atascadero and Patton hospitals. This program focuses on treating patients who have the potential to create dangerous situations for other patients or hospital workers.
The ETP project at Atascadero is scheduled to be completed in April 2018.
The TSD is also working on the Unified Hospital Communications (UHC) — Public Address System project, for which the budget is $6.4 million. When completed, this will provide the integration and potential replacement of PA systems into a more comprehensive and reliable system with wider coverage of the state hospitals at Coalinga and Patton.
“The new PA system will allow for many health and safety improvements in the communication and dissemination of information quickly and intelligibly throughout the hospital campuses,” Sears told Techwire in an email.
Pam Ahlin – Director
Contact info: pam.ahlin@dsh.ca.gov
916-654-2309
Rogene Sears – Chief Information Officer
Contact info: rogene.sears@dsh.ca.gov
