Investigation into Florida Department of Health

A report from the Florida Department of Health's Office of Inspector General came in this week from an investigation that was requested by Bay District Schools back in September 2018.

The investigation was started because of allegations that Florida Department of Health - Bay County employees improperly removed student health records from Bay District Schools.

The report says this came in retaliation of the district's decision to change the schools' healthcare provider to PanCare. The report's conclusion says the DOH employee's decision to administratively end the health plans "May have been justified," but, "the manner in which it was handled was not in the best interest of students." It goes on to say it "was not completed in a cooperative manner."

The district wanted to take the time today to talk about the report and its newfound partnership with the Department of Health.

"I'm not going to get into blaming anybody or saying anything. You've got the truth in front of you, the document speaks for itself. We're just thankful that we finally knew what happened to those records. While we were pretty confident we knew, I think this is vindication for those people that work in our departments and our schools that take these things very serious," said the Superintendent of Bay District Schools Bill Husfelt.

Husfelt went on to say the district now has a great working relationship with the DOH - Bay County.

"We just received the investigation report yesterday morning, so it's still under review to see if there are any further actions that need to be taken. But what we really want to focus on today is that we have new leadership at the Florida Department of Health in Bay County, and we have a very strong partnership with Bay District Schools, and we feel like that the results of this investigation will just help to forward move that relationship," said Heather Kretzer with the Florida Department of Health - Bay County.

The district now works with both PanCare and the DOH - Bay County for the schools' healthcare plans.