board of trustees
David Kears
Director of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency
Kears serves as Director of the Alameda County Health Care Services
Agency. He provides overall direction, consultation, and
trouble-shooting to the agency’s four major departments: Indigent Care;
Public Health Department, including Emergency Medical Services;
Environmental Health Services; and Behavioral Health Care Services,
including Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Services. From 1993 to
1998, Mr. Kears assumed the additional responsibility of developing a
public/private Medi-Cal managed care program, the Alameda Alliance for
Health, pursuant to State of California Department of Health Services
directives. The Alliance is now a fully licensed HMO composed of
traditional Medi-Cal and safety net county and community providers.
Current major program responsibilities include coordinating the county's Indigent Medical Care System and monitoring contracts with the Alameda County Medical Center (three hospital facilities and non-hospital and hospital-based outpatient clinics) and a broad network of community-based primary care providers.
Since 1996, Mr. Kears has chaired Alameda County's Interagency Children's Policy Council. Mr. Kears also completed the development of an alternative governance structure for the County's Medical Care System and the transition of both governance and hospital employees to a separate, public hospital authority in 1999. With the passage of Proposition 10, Mr. Kears led the development and provided initial funding support for Every Child Counts/First 5 Alameda County. Mr. Kears is also Chair of Safe Passages, a Robert Wood Johnson decade-long initiative to improve outcomes for children and youth. This is a City of Oakland-based initiative composed of a partnership of leaders in the City of Oakland, county agencies, and Oakland schools committed to redirecting Oakland’s public and private resources to implement strategies proven to keep kids in school and engaged in positive activities.
In December, 2005, Mr. Kears was appointed by the Senate Rules Committee as Commissioner on the Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism under legislation authored by Senator Don Perata. In May, 2006, he was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the First 5 California State Commission, and is currently Vice-Chair.
Mr. Kears reports directly to the Board of Supervisors and is responsible for coordinating, developing, and implementing county and state health care policies. He oversees the agency budget of approximately $552 million.
Mr. Kears began his career with Alameda County as a Psychiatric Social Worker in 1974 and has held a number of major department head positions in the Health Care Services Agency.
He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Sociology and a Masters in Social Welfare with a Psychiatric Casework Specialty. He also holds a Clinical Social Work license.
