San Luis Obispo County is set to join a regional feasibility study to explore long-term options for improved jail medical services and delivery.
At the April 21 meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved a memorandum of understanding with the Golden State Finance Authority to provide cost reimbursement for participating in the study.
Staff told supervisors that rising costs, ongoing staff shortages, increasing contractual costs, and growing regulatory requirements are challenging counties across California. Rural and mid-sized counties like SLO County are also weighed down by limited qualified medical providers.
“Participation in the feasibility study is simply about being proactive to see if there are viable cost sharing/saving options with acknowledgement that jail medical costs have increased over time statewide,” County Assistant Chief Executive Officer Robert Reyes told New Times. “Participation was not the result of a need in medical services. The jail provides a broad range of medical services.”
The regional study involves SLO, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and would cost a little over $509,000. Based on population size, the three counties would split that cost with SLO County paying almost $92,000, Santa Barbara County paying a little more than $146,000, and Ventura County paying almost $272,000.
“One of the reasons why we have selected these three counties to be part of this tri-county group is because of the uniqueness that we have here—hard to attract hospital services [and] doctors to the area, and the high cost of living,” SLO County CEO Matt Pontes said at the meeting.
The supervisors authorized moving almost $92,000 from the general fund contingencies for the study. Reyes told New Times that the Golden State Finance Authority would bill the county’s proportionate amount of cost for the study.
The study is the result of intervention from the Rural County Representatives of California and risk management joint powers authority PRISM.
According to SLO County staff, the latter group noticed recent cases around California involving in-custody deaths and medical care claims that led to multimillion-dollar settlement demands and escalating county costs.
The two groups convened five regional task forces in 2025 made up of county executive and administrative officers around the state. SLO, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties decided to band together to potentially share service models.
Sarah Hader with the SLO County Executive Office told supervisors that the feasibility study could take up to two years if all counties in the Central Coast region confirm participation.
“The expected outcomes of this study would be to identify sustainable, cost-effective models for jail medical care,” Hader said. “It would aim to improve health care quality in jail settings, enhance compliance with legal and clinical standards, and evaluate the benefits of regional collaboration.” ∆
This article appears in April 23-30, 2026.