State auditor: Health care positions must be filled

(The Center Square) - Hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars are being saved by not hiring staff to fill vacant health care roles, the California State Auditor says. Three state government agencies in California have left many staff health provider roles vacant and instead hired contract workers to fulfill those tasks, the auditor wrote in a recent report. However, even if that saves the state millions of dollars, legal requirements aren’t being met that mandate these departments to hire staff to fill these roles, the report also stated. “The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the Department of Developmental Services (DDS), and the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) have a responsibility to provide medical and mental health care to individuals who are incarcerated in or committed to the facilities they oversee,” the auditor’s report read. “Although the facilities have taken some steps to broaden their recruiting efforts, they could take additional acti