Santa Barbara County Health Pauses Transition of Immigrant Patients to Other Care Providers

Board of Supervisors Receives Report, Takes No Action on Proposed Budget Rebalancing Plan

The County of Santa Barbara Health Department provided the Board of Supervisors a comprehensive update on November 18, 2025.  The update included that County Health has paused its planned January 1, 2026, transition of patients with unsatisfactory immigration status (UIS) to other primary care providers. All County Health clinics remain open and continue to serve all patients.

The pause allows the County to await further federal and state guidance related to patient eligibility and ensures that any future actions are informed, coordinated, and focused on maintaining continuity of care. County Health emphasized that significant work has already been completed to prepare for a potential transition, including securing provider capacity and developing a comprehensive Transition of Care Plan to protect patient health care access if a transition is required in the future.

County Health has also conducted extensive outreach to community partners, including meetings with healthcare organizations and community stakeholders in English and Spanish. This outreach provided essential feedback.  County Health also reaffirmed that it would continue to work with community stakeholders as access to health care continues to evolve given changes being made at the state and federal levels.

“Safeguarding patient care has been our top priority throughout this process,” said County Health Director Mouhanad Hammami. “We are grateful for the collaboration and support of our community partners, whose input has helped us design a thoughtful and well-structured plan should it ever be needed.”

On November 18, 2025, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors received the County Health Department’s report and took no action on the Budget Rebalancing Plan related to staffing reductions. This maintains current service levels while the County continues monitoring on-going developments and assessing next steps.

The Board agenda and supporting documents are available for public review on the County’s website: County of Santa Barbara – File #: 25-01004

For more information about services and health center locations, please visit  https://www.countyofsb.org/2150/Health-Care-Centers or call the following health center near you.