County of Los Angeles - Chief Executive Office

The vision of the Chief Executive Office's Service Integration Branch (SIB) is to develop the leadership, planning, data, and capacity for achieving the Board of Supervisor's direction for delivering services to children and families in a seamless fashion. SIB's mission is to: support and coordinate collaborative policy development; assist County departments integrate service delivery systems; and help provide children and families with needed information.

SIB supports the commitment of the Board to improve the five adopted outcomes for children and families in Los Angeles County: 1) good health, 2) safety and survival, 3) economic well-being, 4) social and emotional well-being, and 5) education and workforce readiness.

What is service integration all about?

The National Center for Service Integration defines it as "…a process by which a range of educational, health, and social services are delivered in a coordinated way to improve outcomes for individuals and families." Effective service integration initiatives emphasize:

Comprehensive services
Family and individual outcomes
Early intervention and prevention
Provider accountability
Consumer and family-oriented responses

What are the elements of effective service integration?

Hallmarks of integrated services tend to be child-centered, family-focused, culturally-competent, and community-based. Steps to successful seamless service delivery include:

Encouraging multi-agency collaboration in the provision of services
Co-locating programs from different agencies
Developing common intake forms
Partnering with communities
Improving access to services
Enhancing customer service and satisfaction
Sharing data/information across agencies
Identifying opportunities for leveraging and matching funds among departments, agencies, and their partners

During the past decade, the County has collaborated with community representatives and partners to enhance the capacity of the health and human services system to improve the lives of children and families. Improving the well-being of children and families requires coordination, collaboration, and integration of services across functional and jurisdictional boundaries, by and between County departments/agencies, the community, and contracting partners. The basic conditions that represent the well-being sought for all children and families in the County are delineated in the following five outcomes, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in January 1993.

Good Health;
Economic Well-Being;
Safety and Survival;
Social and Emotional Well-Being; and
Education and Workforce Readiness.

Recognizing no single strategy -- in isolation -- can achieve the County's outcomes of well-being for children and families, consensus has emerged among County and community leaders that making substantial improvements in integrating the County's health and human services system is necessary to significantly move toward achieving these outcomes. The County has established the following values and goals for guiding the effort to integrate the health and human services delivery system.

Families are treated with respect in every encounter they have with the health, educational, and social services systems.
Families can easily access a broad range of services to address their needs, build on their strengths, and achieve their goals.
There is no "wrong door"; wherever a family enters the system is the right place.
Families receive services tailored to their unique situations and needs.
Service providers and advocates involve families in the process of determining service plans, and proactively provide families with coordinated and comprehensive information, services, and resources.
The County service system is flexible, able to respond to service demands for both the Countywide population and specific population groups.
The County service system acts to strengthen communities, recognizing that just as individuals live in families, families live in communities.
In supporting families and communities, County agencies work seamlessly with public and private service providers, community-based organizations, and other community partners.
County agencies and their partners work together seamlessly to demonstrate substantial progress towards making the system more strength-based, family-focused, culturally-competent, accessible, user-friendly, responsive, cohesive, efficient, professional, and accountable.
County agencies and their partners focus on administrative and operational enhancements to optimize the sharing of information, resources, and best practices while also protecting the privacy rights of families.
County agencies and their partners pursue multi-disciplinary service delivery, a single service plan, staff development opportunities, infrastructure enhancements, customer service and satisfaction evaluation, and revenue maximization.
County agencies and their partners create incentives to reinforce the direction toward service integration and a seamless service delivery system.

The County human services system embraces a commitment to the disciplined pursuit of results accountability across systems. Specifically, any strategy designed to improve the County human services system for children and families should ultimately be judged by whether it helps achieve the County's five outcomes for children and families.

What difference can SIB make in the County's way of doing business?

SIB's commitment to implementing change includes:

Optimizing productivity and quality of services by assessing alternative ways of doing business; providing timely and appropriate leadership and decision-making; coordinating work efforts through project plans; doing things right the first time; building consensus; following through on commitments; and ensuring accountability for excellence.
Promoting effective communication by sharing information and knowledge, being open to the opinions of others, and making no assumptions.
Maintaining focus on how actions will realize the ultimate goal of helping children and families.
Promoting creativity, flexibility, and innovation in developing and implementing integrated services for children and families.

SIB Managers

Kathy House, Senior Manager, CEO Service Integration Branch
khouse@ceo.lacounty.gov

Lesley Blacher, Special Integrated Initiatives and Data Integration, Evaluation Services lblacher@ceo.lacounty.gov

Jose Aldana Ayelo, IT Infrastructure Development
jaldana@ceo.lacounty.gov

Manuel Moreno, Research and Evaluation Services
mmoreno@ceo.lacounty.gov

Elena Estrin, Revenue Enhancement
eestrin@ceo.lacounty.gov

Florence Fujii, Administrative Support Services
ffujii@ceo.lacounty.gov

Kathy Malaske-Samu, Office of Child Care
kmalaske@ceo.lacounty.gov

Carlos Pineda, Integrated Services and Partnerships
cpineda@ceo.lacounty.gov

Kathy House, Housing and Homeless Initiatives
khouse@ceo.lacounty.gov